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Which Way for Catalan and Galician?

Jay Gordon Bostrom The University of Montana

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By

Jay Gordon Bostrom

BA Spanish, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1998 BA History, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1998

Thesis

presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts in Spanish

The University of Montana Missoula, MT

Autumn 2006

Approved by:

Dr. David A. Strobel, Dean Graduate School

Dr. Anthony Beltramo, Chair Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures

Dr. Stanley Rose Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures

Dr. Irene Appelbaum Anthropology

Bostrom, Jay, M.A., Autumn 2006 Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Spanish

Minority Language Attitudes in Galicia and Catalonia

Chair: Professor Anthony Beltramo

Despite legitimate fears of the effects twenty-first century globalization will have on linguistic diversity, vigorous efforts are being made to maintain minority languages in multi-national/ethnic states such as Spain. Catalonia and Galicia have not forgotten the severe treatment they received under the Franco dictatorship that resulted in untold damage to the trajectory of the languages. Even today, thirty-one years later, the negative effects are palpable and alive in the language attitudes of the Catalan and Galician people. The notion that a language is a unifying symbol of regional identity around which Catalonia and Galicia can rally to determine their own futures and resist the Spanish hegemon is valid. Nationalistic fervor and a sense of empowerment in these two regions continue to rise concomitantly with the increasing number of Catalan and Galician speakers. Current census data show positive gains in the number of Catalan and Galician people that can speak, read, write and understand their heritage languages. Attitudinal research shows parallel positive signs as Catalans and Galicians believe their languages are more than worth the effort to maintain them in the form of financial and political investment in their maintenance. However positive the signs may seem, there remain significant challenges for these minority languages in the face of increasing socio- cultural homogenization that can only be hastened further by globalization. The long- term survival of Catalan and Galician depends on more than a positive collective attitude that the language should be saved. This thesis elucidates current language attitudes of Galicians and Catalans. These two linguistic communities exhibit similarities and differences in their language attitudes. These similarities and differences help to explain the sometimes contradictory and sometimes parallel states of language maintenance in which Catalan and Galician are found. For the immediate future, the two minority languages appear to be in an overall positive state of linguistic health. Increasing numbers of speakers as well as the diminishing of low social status stigmas towards minority language speakers could mean a genuine reversal of language shift for Catalonia and Galicia.

ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author wishes to thank Professor Beltramo for having the patience to work with me throughout this often sidetracked project. Further thanks are due to Jodi for taking the time and investing the money to make my research possible. Finally, very special thanks to all of the people of Galicia and Catalonia who participated in this research.

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Preface

Traditionally, a scientist tries to be indifferent to the results of his experiments. In

fact, convention says that it is not necessary, nor desirable, that she be emotionally attached to the outcome at all. Instead, she should be committed to the “objective” analysis of empirical evidence regardless of outcome. Accordingly, “objectivity” is thought of as, perhaps, the primary expression of the scientific spirit. That is, scientific conclusions should be driven by cold, hard, value-free facts. However, during the last century doubt crept in as to whether or not such objectivity, even in the “hard” sciences, is possible. But is absolute objectivity the only condition under which experiments should be conducted? Or, can we conduct “scientific” research—seeking radical conclusions—with declared auspices and still achieve an acceptable standard of “truth?”

Furthermore, what does science do to respond to postmodernism’s attack on the notion of

“objectivity?” While the “hard” sciences may be predictably reluctant to concede to the

probability that “pure” objectivity is impossible, the “soft” sciences—such as

sociolinguistics, economics, anthropology, etc.—must admit the limitations within

“human” sciences.

Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor of Linguistics at MIT, has dedicated a great

deal of his time to discuss the elusive issue of objectivity:

[N]o one working in the sciences has any confidence that what they are

saying is correct. You can’t…You are drawing the best conclusions you

can from scattered and limited evidence and finding the best theories you

can—understanding that they are partial. That’s what science is. That’s

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what rational activity is. With regard to objectivity every scientist knows

[…] that he or she starts from a certain perspective; and you try to be

critical of your own perspective, but you recognize that you can’t. I mean,

you are approaching the problems you are dealing with from the point of

view that you reached on the basis of earlier work—sometimes prejudiced

[...] You constantly try to challenge it. And that’s the search for

objectivity.

Chomsky continues:

Our concept of human nature is certainly limited, partial, socially

conditioned—constrained by our own character defects—and the

limitations of the intellectual culture in which we exist. Yet at the same

time it is critical that we have some direction; that we know what the

“impossible” goals are that we are trying to achieve, if we hope to achieve

some of the “possible” goals. We have to be bold enough to speculate and

create social theories on the basis of partial knowledge while remaining

very open to the strong possibility, in fact the overwhelming probability,

that we are very far off the mark (

/1971xxxx.htm>).

“Off the mark,” may be exactly where I land after I attempt a sociolinguistic description of Galicia and Catalonia, but I am encouraged to proceed with this endeavor despite my limited knowledge and the sociopolitical constraints by which I am conditioned and prejudiced. I expect that my research will raise important questions and

v

present future points of inquiry. Finally, I hope that I am fair in my analysis of the responses I got from the people that I interviewed in both regions.

Being partial to the preservation of linguistic diversity is not something that I see as a hindrance to searching, scientifically or otherwise, for a viable model for minority

language maintenance and reversing language shift. In fact, I feel it invigorates my

dedication to seek innovative methods for achieving some of the Chomsky’s “possible

goals,” like maintaining marginalized languages and cultures. I want to see as many

languages survive into the future as possible. In fact, to speak of the “impossible,” I

would like to see no more languages die. That is why I was drawn to Galicia and

Catalonia as exemplary forms of minority language survival that have experienced a

resurgence in the number of speakers, and more importantly, in the number of

opportunities and situations to use them. Clearly, there are factors that make both of

these communities more likely to “succeed” in their efforts to maintain their languages, but a deeper analysis of the society in which these languages live may help to broaden

our understanding of the social relationship that exists between people and their

language.

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements iv

Preface v

List of Figures and Maps ix

Glossary xii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1—Why Should Minority Languages be Saved? 11

Chapter 2—Language Attitudes 20

Chapter 3— Catalonia 32

Chapter 4— Galicia 64

Chapter 5—What Now? 90

Works Cited 95

Works Consulted 98

Appendix A 99

Appendix B 102

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LIST OF FIGURES AND MAPS

Number Page

Figure 1—Multi-component Model of Language Attitude 12

Figure 2—Most Important Factors in Catalan Identity 16

Figure 3—Most Important Factors in Galician Identity 16

Figure 4—Easiest Second Language to Learn (Native Catalan) 26

Figure 5—Easiest Second Language to Learn (Native Castilian) 27

Figure 6—2001 Census: Catalan Language Statistics from Catalonia 31

Figure 7—Number of Catalan Speakers (Regions where Catalan is Official) 32

Figure 8—Number of Catalan Speakers (Other territories) 32

Figure 9—Where is Purest Form of Catalan Spoken 33

Figure 10—Language Choice for Media Sources 36

Figure 11—Frequency of Catalan Use 45

Figure 12—Is Catalan Used Enough in the Following Places? 47

Figure 13—Attitudes about Official Language 49

Figure 14—Is Catalan as Important as Castilian? 50

Figure 15—Does Catalan Have as Important a History as Castilian? 50

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Figure 16—Perceived Changes to the Catalan Languages 52

Figure 17—Is the Protection of Catalan Essential? 53

Figure 18—Is Galician Used Enough in the Following Places? 58

Figure 19—Daily Use of Galician vs. Castilian 59

Figure 20—Frequency of Galician Use 59

Figure 21—Figures on Galician Language Skills 61

Figure 22—Figures on Galician Language Skills by Region 62

Figure 23—Is Galician as Important as Castilian? 64

Figure 24—Quantity of Music, Movies, Sports Available in Galician 65

Figure 25—Where is the Purest Form of Galician Spoken? 67

Figure 26—Easiest Second Language to Learn: Native Galician 69

Figure 27—Easiest Second Language to Learn: Native Castilian 70

Figure 28—Are Galician and Castilian the Same Language? 72

Figure 29—Are Galician and Portuguese the Same Language? 72

Figure 30—Is Galician as Important as Castilian? 75

Figure 31—Does Galician Have as Important a History as Castilian? 75

Figure 32—Attitudes about Official Language 77

Figure 33—Has Galician Changed in Recent Years? 78

ix

Figure 34—Is the Protection of Galician Essential? 79

Map 1—Catalan Dialect Zones of Catalonia 29

Map 2—Linguistic Map of Galicia 66

x

GLOSSARY

Language Attitudes: inter-group judgments or stereotypes that favor or disfavor a language, their speakers and the use of the language (Haugen, 95-6).

Language Loss: measurable decline in one or more functions served by a language in society.

Language Loyalty: “a principle […] in the name of which people will rally themselves and their fellow speakers consciously and explicitly to resist changes in either the functions of their language” (Weinreich, 99).

Language Maintenance: refers to functional retention of language in society.

Language Planning: official actions taken to safeguard and modernize a language.

Language Policy: “Many countries have a language policy designed to favour or discourage the use of a particular language or set of languages. Although nations historically have used language policies most often to promote one official language at the expense of others, many countries now have policies designed to protect and promote regional and ethnic languages whose viability is threatened” (<<>>).

Language Shift: “A language shift may be defined as the habitual use of one language to that of another” (Weinreich, 68).

Castilian: for the purpose of this study, “Castilian” is used interchangeably with “Spanish.” “Castilian” refers to the language spoken in Spain, in lieu of “Spanish,” since millions of “Spanish” citizens speak languages other than “Castilian.”

La Generalitat: is the political system under which the government of Catalonia is organized. It consists of the Parliament, the President and the Executive Council.

xi

Introduction

When I originally set out to write this thesis, I was primarily concerned with the

teleological trajectory of the minority languages Catalan and Galician. I wanted, quite

simply, to know if they were going to survive. I wanted to believe “successful” language

maintenance meant ever-lasting survival, believing that somehow, if I could describe

“where these languages were headed” I would be able to emerge with potentially predictable patterns that might assist in preventing other minority languages from dying.

Now, following a series of direct interactions with the people of these communities, I have altered my hope for some long-term pronouncement about the future of Catalan and

Galician, especially after learning that such a predetermined description is quite elusive due to myriad sociological factors.

Among these factors are the attitudes held by the speakers themselves, which I have made the focus of this study. I am now convinced that the possible “end” of these

languages—or any language—is inextricably linked to the “here and now” of a minority

language community. The current cultural and ethnic identities of Catalans and Galicians

(which are imagined and impermanent), their language attitudes, the conscious choice of

millions of them to use their languages every day and in manifold ways, and a tolerant

national language policy, are the principal factors that will determine the future of these

minority languages. If Galicians or Catalans believe that the maintenance of their

languages is crucial to the survival of their imagined cultural and ethnic identities; if they

find the use of their languages to be pertinent and practical each and every day; and if

they consign prestige to their minority language over the dominant language, then they

1

will likely force political institutions to make policies that support maintenance, increasing the likelihood that their language will endure.

We cannot be certain of the long-term trajectory of any language, as history has

shown some languages were thought to be permanent only to die within a few

generations. That is why these queries can only be considered within their historical and

social context, broadening the narrow teleological perspective to include an ontological

one. Therefore, I contend that in order to determine what is to “become” of Catalan and

Galician over the next couple of generations, one must also look closely at what it is to

“be” Catalan and Galician. How do Galicians and Catalans prioritize their languages as factors to make one Galician or Catalan? In addition, one must look at the political climates in which Catalan and Galician exist. It is important to look back at the histories of Galicia and Catalonia to attempt a description of how these linguistic communities arrived to where they are today. Linguistic diversity is a defining characteristic of the formation of what comprises the Iberian Peninsula. It is essential that one understand the historical and contemporary climate of attitudes, rivalries, and even tolerance that has allowed for the confederation of such a socially, ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse geographical region as modern Spain. One must attempt to take account of the languages’ current overall health as can be only partially assessed through its practical and daily prevalence within the region’s myriad institutions such as the media, education, commerce, literature, and technology.

2

Historical Background of Spain’s Languages

Catalonia and Galicia are no strangers to the potential for cultural extinction in their historical struggle with the Spanish state for national, ethnic and linguistic autonomy. Linguistic autonomy is but one among many battles these regions have fought. Catalonia and Galicia have had to fight for centuries against the hegemony of

Castilian Spain for cultural, economic, political, and social rights as well. In fact, antagonism is a defining characteristic of the relationship Spain has had with each of its autonomous communities: Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country.

A historical backdrop is vital in understanding the everlasting linguistic battle that is the result of the spatial impositions nation-states capriciously place on multi-ethnic and multilingual regions such as Spain. The minority languages of Spain suffered brutal repression under the dictatorship of Generalissimo Francisco Franco from 1939-1975.

However, even before Franco, Catalan and Galician suffered throughout the centuries for their survival in the face of Spanish dominance through its Spanish-speaking rulers. As far back as 1410, Catalan faced suppression, as Spanish became the language of

Catalonia’s elites and intellectuals (Turell, 61). However, while “meager literary production” (Turell, 61) was a trend of the 16th Century’s intellectual class in Catalonia,

“there was plenty of literature produced by the poorer classes, who did not speak

Spanish” (Turell, 61).

During the period of the first half of the 19th Century, “the dominance of Spanish in all kinds of literary publications was reinforced, and there was more and more linguistic interference of Spanish in the Catalan language” (Turell, 61). However, towards the middle of the 19th Century, European Romanticism ushered in a period of

3

regionalism including what was called in Catalonia the Renaixença. This was a cultural awakening that embraced Catalan language and culture, and a period that continues to influence contemporary Catalan pride.

Fast-forwarding to the period of 1939-75, Franco took drastic steps in an effort to create an uncontested and unified nation state that would be ruled from Madrid and be centered on Castilian Spanish as well as traditional Castilian customs, the Catholic religion, and conservative moral values. The dictator made illegal the public use of minority languages and forbade them from being formally taught in schools. Franco eliminated the commercial use of the languages through advertising, media and business transactions.

Catalonia was of particular concern to Franco as it had long been the bastion of radical social movements and the starting point of the social revolution that would forever change Spain. Franco prohibited the use of Catalan in public, and replaced its use in the media, schools, governments, etc. with Castilian Spanish. “[Franco] even encouraged campaigns to prevent people from speaking Catalan in public. These included putting stickers up in telephone booths, urging callers to conduct their conversation in Castilian. Catalans were insulted by the exhortation of Francoist officials to ‘speak Christian!’” (Berdichevsky, 107). Franco also tried a deceitful tactic to diminish Catalan ire: he allowed Catalan to be spoken in public at F.C. Barcelona soccer matches only. Unlike his predecessor dictator, Primo de Rivera (who tried to crack down on Catalan nationalism but failed horribly), Franco “let the partisans scream their obscenities against him” (Foer, 205) during soccer matches only. He believed that by allowing Catalans a public place to shout insults at him, use their language and to let off

4

their steam that they might believe their resistance was succeeding and forget that their language was being systematically annihilated. According to one of my interviewees that fought in and survived the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship, Franco even went so far as to prohibit Catalan names. However, despite his best efforts, a few thousand books were published in Catalan during his reign, the language continued to be used in public defiance and many Catalan people resisted his edicts by secretly teaching

Catalan. In the end, the language suffered some serious setbacks as it had not been taught to entire generations of Catalans. As one woman I interviewed who was born in the 1956 under the dictatorship of Franco explained, “I am only now learning to read and write in my native tongue.” She described to me that many adults like her were attending night classes in order to learn to read and write Catalan. “With the re-establishment of the

Generalitat de Catalunya (1977) […] each region had its own local government and its own Estatut d’Autonomia (Autonomy Statute), through which linguistic policies were instituted, to varying degrees, with the aim of recovering Catalan as the language of the

Catalan-speaking community” (Turell, 63). The woman learning to read and write was

reassured by the rights afforded her by 1978 Constitutional provision, but she also

explained to me that she was embarrassed that she could not do what her children could

with her native language. Though not bitter at the time she was in school as a child—as

she was “simply going along with the system,” she expressed a bitter sentiment for an

opportunity and right she was denied.

Galician suffered similarly under Franco, though there were some distinct

differences. For example, the everyday use of Galician was not suppressed, while the

other prohibitions that Catalonia also suffered from were enforced. The reason for not

5

suppressing Galician and singling out Catalan has several possible explanations which I will not try to detail in this limited space. Suffice to say, Galicia’s lower economic, political and social status posed much less of a threat than Catalonia’s historical prestige and power to Madrid and Franco. By allowing Galicians to use their language in everyday situations, but by suppressing its use and continuation through education, it was hoped that Galicians would be unaware of the language’s demise. Again, Franco was unsuccessful in destroying one of Spain’s important minority languages. Galicians resisted Franco’s brutal policies and the language was temporarily maintained in the fields, shores, small towns, and homes of Galicia. “After the Civil War, the

Castilianisation of Galician society became multidirectional, mainly owing to the access people then had to the mass media and to schooling, both of which were provided exclusively in Spanish” (Turell, 120). The language was sometimes used in public affairs to embarrass and scorn a poor and ignorant society that did not know how to read or write it. Similar to Catalonia, many of Galician’s most important advocates were forced into exile, so the language suffered from the absence of their influence. However,

[i]n spite of this hostile context, the reinstatement of the Galician cultural

tradition and of the Galician literature began with the setting up of the

Galaxia publishing house in 1950, whose aim it was to encourage the

spread of Galician culture. The political forces opposed to Franco’s

regime and above all, but not exclusively, the groups with a nationalist

bent were to play a leading role in the defence and use of Galician. It was

thanks to their efforts that Galician society was made aware that its

6

language had a long-forgotten history of its own and that it was just as

worthy to be used as any other language (Turell, 121).

Today, one of the major language questions in the region revolves around the

variety of Galician that should be standardized: a Castilianized version or a more

Portuguese-influenced one. As will be discussed in this paper, this lively debate is evidence of positive efforts to maintain the Galician language.

Perhaps the most significant historical date in the context of Spain’s linguistic history is 1978. Generalissimo Francisco Franco died in 1975. After his death, the country’s political and economic systems underwent significant changes. In particular, the constitution was greatly revised and amended. One of those amendments, Article 3, states that “Spanish is the official language of Spain,” but that “the other Spanish languages will also be official in their respective autonomous communities, in accordance with their Statutes.” This momentous change in the Spanish constitution meant that for the first time the minority languages of Spain would be legally protected. However:

“Article 3 of Spain’s 1978 constitution has been heralded as a radical new

recognition of linguistic rights and cultural pluralism by many

commentators. However, a careful analysis of this article confirms the

view that the politics of language in Spain remain contentious and

ambiguous, in part because of the very language of politics itself” (Mar-

Molinero, 106).

As will be discussed in this paper, the change to the constitution in 1978 is not necessarily seen as adequate by the people of Galicia and Catalonia since it only guarantees that they have a “co-official” status alongside Spanish within their respective

7

communities. Furthermore, the granting of linguistic rights by the Spanish state is also seen by some of the respondents to my survey as inappropriate, since Galicia, Catalonia and the Basque Country were not necessarily asking for this permission. What is important to bear in mind as it pertains to the historical background of Galician and

Catalonia is a shared legacy of suffering from the linguistic domination of the Spanish state and the resulting resiliency of both communities to maintain their languages despite mammoth efforts to annihilate them.

A STUDY OF LANGUAGE ATTITUDES IN CATALONIA AND GALICIA

The focus of the inquiry I conducted in Catalonia and Galicia was to look at the language attitudes of Catalans and Galicians. I believed that by following Joshua

Fishman’s basic model for language attitude studies that I would be able to target the

“affective” or “evaluative” strain (i.e., what people say they do with their language) of his proposed multi-component attitude structure (1970, 142), and thereby, I would be able to highlight the important influence a speech community’s attitude has on the potential maintenance of minority language. I looked at what Catalans and Galicians claimed they do with their language rather than what they actually do (conative) or what they know

(cognitive). By demonstrating that Catalans or Galicians consign prestige and positive status to their language despite the presence of a dominant language, I believe I will reveal one of the central components to “successful” maintenance: a community’s attitude toward its own pattern of language use. Often, sociolinguists (including

Fishman) stress the relevance of language attitude in the survival of minority languages.

It is my purpose to underscore this notion by demonstrating the strong influence the

8

Galicians’ and Catalans’ affirmative attitudes about their own languages has had on the

recent resurgence of their languages. At the same time, I will show that in neither

community has the language ever really reached endangered levels even though they

could be clearly defined as languages that had the potential for endangerment considering

the centuries-long repression they have survived.

I will conclude this argument by raising important questions for further

sociolinguistic inquiry. For example, can the Catalan or Galician example be duplicated

in other sites of language endangerment? What role can education play in building the

self-esteem of minority language speakers and then, subsequently, building an affirmative action towards that minority language’s maintenance? Can “bilingualism” be turned into a mark of intellectual prestige and then seized upon for building self-esteem in a minority

language community?

In addition to sociolinguistic questions, broader sociopolitical questions will be

raised. What, for example, is the connection between language endangerment and

politics or economics? Is there a correlation between economic domination and language

dominance? How can language domination be swayed or subverted by minority

language speakers? Is there an association between capitalism and the impending death

of thousands of languages? Perhaps these questions will remain unanswered considering

the unpredictability of human affairs. However, to make universal generalizations about

language maintenance it will be necessary to confront these puzzling questions. If we are

to achieve some of the “possible goals,” we must begin with some of the “impossible

ones.” Even if they remain unanswered, they will add to the dialogue within

9

sociolinguistics and should shed much needed light onto the discussion of language maintenance and the potential for other minority languages to survive.

In what follows, I will begin with the justification for this study in Chapter 1, including—but not limited to—the basic linguistic human rights all human beings are entitled to. In Chapter 2, I will describe the methodology of the survey I took in Spain during the winter of 2004-05. The data collected in this survey are used throughout this study to demonstrate the language attitudes of the speech communities assessed in

Galicia and Catalonia. Also included in Chapter 2, is a discussion of my understanding and use of the concept of “language attitudes.” Chapters 3 and 4 are dedicated to

Catalonia and Galicia respectively. In these chapters, I will describe the language attitudes held by speakers from these communities as revealed through my survey. These chapters also represent the bulk of this paper since they were the focus of this study. In the concluding chapter, I will close with some summary statements about the most immediate future of the languages of Catalan and Galician. I will also draw some more general conclusions about language attitude and the reversing of language shift in the overall context of language maintenance.

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Chapter 1

WHY SHOULD MINORITY LANGUAGES BE SAVED?

“If the inquiry has no scientific significance and no social significance […] it follows that it has no merit at all.” Noam Chomsky

The social significance of maintaining endangered or minority languages is immeasurably important. David and Maya Bradley provide four compelling reasons why the preservation of languages is essential:

1) From the point of view of linguistics, we must describe ELs

[Endangered Languages]. If languages disappear undescribed, we will

never know whether they had otherwise unattested or rare structures.

Also, it is clear that ELs change in different ways from other languages,

and this has important implications for historical linguistic theory.

2) Ethical reasons: if languages disappear undescribed, future generations

will not be able to learn the language of their ancestors and will not have

access to various aspects of traditional knowledge and culture. From an

ethical point of view, we have no right to deprive them of the possibility

of retaining or regaining their language and culture.

3) Scientific reasons: every society has different knowledge and encodes

it using distinctive linguistic patterns, so each language categorizes the

world in a unique way which comprises a world view. Furthermore, each

society lives in a different ecological system and has unique knowledge of

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its environment and the plants and animals in it; this would be lost if the

language disappears. It may turn out that much of this knowledge has

scientific value for the development of new drugs, foods and materials, all

of which have practical and economic benefits too.

4) Symbolic reasons: group identity and self-esteem are of paramount

importance. Language is a crucial element of this identity, even when

speakers do not feel the need to attain fluency in the language (Bradley &

Bradley, xi-xii).

According to Joshua Fishman, “[l]anguages are not merely innocent means of

communication. They stand for or symbolize peoples, i.e., ethnocultures […] Languages

may very well all be equally valid and precious markers of cultural belonging, behavior and identity” (1995: 51). Therefore, the merit for preserving languages is assuredly significant.

Through my interactions with the people of Galicia and Catalonia, the reasons listed above for maintaining minority languages were fortified. Catalans and Galicians not only thrive culturally and socially due to the presence of their own language—making the ethical and symbolic reasons legitimate—but the revival of their languages after the death of Generalissimo Francisco Franco have led to significant academic contributions made by people of these regions. Catalonia and Galicia have some of Spain’s best universities and the autonomy of languages within these universities helps expand worldviews held by students contributing to academia. The fact that both of these languages have enjoyed relative success in reversing language shift can teach linguists a

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great deal about the resiliency of certain linguistic groups and the various socio-cultural factors that contribute to language survival.

One of the basic justifications one could make for the maintenance of minority languages is linguistic human rights. In 1992, the United Nations adopted Resolution

47/135, which emphasized that “states shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity”

(). The resolution continues to stress the rights of all human beings to have protected access to their “mother tongue” in

Article 4: “States should take appropriate measures so that, wherever possible, persons belonging to minorities may have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother tongue” (

/0/fb7fb12c2fb8bb21c12563ed004df111?Opendocument>).

Even though this seemingly powerful declaration was intended to recognize and enforce what should obviously be a universal human right, application and implementation remain problematic. In all actuality, there seems to be an observable divergence of benign intent and genuine praxis. For example, there are still significant linguistic human rights inequalities throughout the world “despite the good intentions of drafters of covenants, from the United Nations Charter onwards, and the ratification of them by member states” (Skutnabb-Kangas, 3). Through manufactured myths such as the claim that monolingualism is more desirable for economic potential and/or that minority rights (such as minority language rights) are a threat to the nation state, dominant language groups (often the same groups that hold political power) are able to veil a desire

13

to assimilate minority groups by granting minority language rights without providing

truly viable means of implementation. In other words, the dominant language group

provides minority language groups with a plan of appeasement.

“[S]peakers of a dominant language, usually enjoy all those linguistic rights which can be seen as fundamental, regardless of how they are defined” (Skutnabb-

Kangas, 1-2); and, the rights of the dominant language group are provided practical opportunities for daily use of their language as well as priority through institutional practices such as education, media, etc. Because the dominant language group steers language policy for most nation states, as well as the fact that their goals of assimilation can be veiled by the noble appearance of expanding minorities’ rights, it seems as though linguistic human rights covenants may actually be presenting linguistic minorities with the devil’s gift: intentions without opportunities. The dominant language group’s pretext is thus described by Skutnabb-Kangas and Phillipson who conclude:

The gulf between the good intentions expressed in preambles of

international or regional documents and the de facto dearth of linguistic

human rights can thus be understood as symptomatic of the tension

between on the one hand a genuine wish on the part of the (nation) state to

secure (or give the impression of securing) human rights to minorities, and

on the other hand the (nation) state believing that granting human rights,

especially linguistic and cultural human rights, to minorities, is decisive

for reproducing these minorities as minorities, which may lead to the

disintegration of the state (5).

14

Ironically, the fear of “the disintegration of the state” due to increased minority

rights and any subsequent minority “awakening” is exactly what the state can expect if

they decide to ignore minority rights, such as the right to express oneself in one’s mother

tongue. Take Quebec for example. Had the Canadian government not acted to give appropriate rights to French-speaking Quebequois, there existed legitimate threats of secession. In Spain, Catalonia has threatened to secede, and this threat was neither issued nor received idly. However, in both of these cases, the “minority” language group held considerable bargaining power as in the case of Catalonia which is Spain’s biggest wealth-producing region. So what happens in the cases of linguistic minority groups with less bargaining power? What can we predict about the correlation between the relative economic, social, cultural and political disparity between majority and minority language groups and the potential threat secession or civil strife poses to the national government?

In the case of Spain, Galicia is fiercely nationalistic and has its own animosities towards the Spanish state, but in comparison to Catalonia one rarely hears a serious threat being made by Galicians to secede. Catalonia is much more powerful economically and politically than Galicia. Furthermore, I would argue that Catalonia’s social and cultural statuses are also regarded with higher value and prestige than those of Galicia. Not

surprisingly, this is based on Catalonia’s political and economic power throughout its

history. By comparison, Galicia is traditionally thought of as one of Spain’s poorest,

most rugged and least developed regions. While secession of either of these regions would be economically detrimental to the nation of Spain and the regions themselves, it is very clear which autonomous region is more valued by most Spaniards regardless of

the negative feelings they may have towards Catalans. The strong animosity that many

15

Spanish nationalists have towards Catalans is likely derived from the very threat and bargaining power Catalonia holds over Spain. Conversely, a Spaniard’s casual attitude towards Galicians may be derived from feelings of superiority and the fact that throughout its history, Galicia has posed little threat to Spain’s national sovereignty.

Therefore, the granting of minority linguistic rights to Galicia may seem less threatening than an increase of minority rights in the case of Catalonia. While it may be impractical to predict what the tension between Catalonia, Galicia, the Basque Country and Spain would be like today had they not been granted linguistic rights by the Spanish

Constitution in 1978, it is not difficult to imagine the extreme ethnic conflict that repealing those rights today would cause.

It is worth mentioning that the motivations by the Spanish government for increasing minority, linguistic and regional rights may indeed have been nobler than a purely practical reaction to the fear of disintegration or economic damage. It is possible some Spaniards see the value of a pluralistic society with a healthy diversity of languages, cultures, etc. However, when one observes the structure of the Spanish state that is divided into states and three special status “autonomous regions” (Galicia,

Catalonia, and the Basque Country), a deeper analysis is required. What does

“autonomous” mean for these regions? They have their own governments. They make many of their own laws and policies much the same way American states do. However, their laws can never contradict the national constitution. Perhaps the pretext is the term

“autonomous.” The co-dependent relationship between the regions and the Spanish government undermines the very meaning of “autonomous.” In an analogous way, the regions have been granted linguistic rights as their languages are given a “co-official”

16

status with Spanish in each of the respective autonomous regions. However, none of the

minority languages (Catalan, Gallego, Basque) is given a co-official status in the Spanish state. In a not-so-entirely-autonomous way, the minority languages of each autonomous

region are actually only “co-autonomous” alongside Spanish. Therefore, it seems that the

dominant language group (Spanish) fears relinquishing total autonomy to the minority

groups. Perhaps this is due to the fear that further autonomy would necessarily mean

secession, yet this ignores the question of whether or not Catalonia, Galicia, or the

Basque Country are actually interested in seceding. Considering the lack of serious

efforts by any of the autonomous regions to leave the Spanish state, it seems unlikely

there exists a serious interest in secession.

Regarding the myth that increased minority rights is tantamount to the

disintegration of the nation state, the example of Spain is perplexing. If anything, the

Spanish Constitution of 1978 that granted minority language rights to Galicia, Catalonia

and the Basque Country, very well may have led to a notable level of conciliation. As for

the “granting” of minority rights, Joshua Fishman astutely pointed out that

“[e]stablishments are more likely to limit others than to limit themselves, and, therefore,

to appeal to or to implement any notion of limits primarily for the preservation and

furtherance of their own power, rather than to permit others to have access to power by

engaging in power-sharing” (1995: 51). While Catalans and Galicians are not “thanking”

Spain for “granting” them their human rights, one can observe a measured appreciation

manifest in the way the energy stemming from the increase in nationalism has been

directed inward and has—by and large—avoided attacking the Spanish government. For

example, Catalonia and Galicia have taken advantage of the increase in linguistic rights

17

to invigorate their culture and society. Linguistically, Catalonia has “succeeded” in reversing language shift, according to Joshua Fishman (1991: 287). Galicia has an invigorating linguistic debate raging between divided camps about the best direction for

the Galician language (Gallego): one side wants a Galician that is more like Portuguese

and the other side wants a Galician that is more like Spanish. An increase in nationalism

throughout both of these regions was noticeable in each of my visits to the regions over

the last twelve years, yet I noticed that most of this nationalist energy was focused on

social and cultural invigoration. In fact, I have found that—regardless of the reasoning

behind the granting of minority language rights to Galicia and Catalonia (be that

appeasement, genuine social justice, veiled nobility, etc.)—the people of these regions were proud of their language, culture and land. They rarely mentioned a desire to secede from Spain. Therefore, an increase in minority rights in both of these cases has not led to a “disintegration of the nation state.”

Quite simply, in the case of Spain, one’s attitude towards language policy is perhaps best determined by one’s maternal language. However, as I will demonstrate through my surveys of Catalan and Galician people, an interesting phenomenon exists.

Most of the people from these two “autonomous” regions did not feel their language should have co-official status with Spanish outside of their respective regions. Again, their focus tended to be inward as the same sentiment did not hold true about the co- official status between Spanish and their regional languages within their own regions.

The attitudes of the respondents to my survey were in complete agreement that Spanish should not be the official language within their “autonomous” regions.

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I take these responses to be a strong—nearly unanimous—justification for the maintenance of their minority languages within the Spanish state. Rationale for monolingualism as a means to avoid state disintegration and economic struggles cannot be passed off onto the people of multi-national, multilingual Spain. Catalan linguists are surely aware of how Joshua Fishman showed in a thorough study of 120 states that “the relationship between multilingualism and poverty is not a causal one” (Skutnabb-Kangas,

4). In the case of Catalonia, this conclusion is certainly borne out, as Catalonia continues to be a modern, high-tech society despite the on-going presence of multiple languages.

Galicia’s modernization and arrival into the high-tech world has taken place entirely after the granting of linguistic rights. The convenient fear that monolingualism is necessary for a nation state to achieve economic prosperity is thoroughly disproved in the case of multi-lingual Spain, a country that has prospered and grown immensely since the death of

Franco.

Galicia and Catalonia as linguistic communities did not arrive at their current multilingual relationship—be it language shift reversal, or success—via the same trajectory. It is the purpose of this research to describe briefly the varied historical paths these communities have taken in order to comprise the sometimes paralleled and sometimes divergent language attitudes they have. What should be established as uncontroversial is that the justification for undertaking a project and policy of reversing language shift and then to maintain the minority languages of these two linguistic communities is a basic human right and a unanimous desire of Catalan and Galician people.

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Chapter 2

LANGUAGE ATTITUDES

Stemming from the justifications David and Maya Bradley gave for maintaining endangered or minority languages, are four theoretical issues they feel are often

overlooked but that have important ramifications:

1) What people think about language is crucial.

2) Linguists have a variety of ways to change attitudes and maintain

languages.

3) Multilingualism is normal in much of the world, and so it is not

unreasonable or cognitively problematic to maintain ELs (Endangered

Languages) in addition to Languages of Wider Communication

(LWC).

4) However, languages exist as part of a total social system, and we

cannot prevent that system from changing (xiv).

The first of these issues was the primary focus of my research while in Spain.

Interviewing and surveying Galician and Catalan speakers in their respective regions, I studied their language attitudes. The remaining three theoretical issues are important to the actual act of maintaining languages and thus serve as further justifications for language maintenance.

The questionnaire that I created was intended to ascertain attitudes members of

the respective linguistic communities held about Galician and Catalan. While compiling

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questions for the questionnaire, it was my hypothesis that if the people of these regions

believed their languages to be worth saving, such a positive attitude would help explain

their relative success in maintaining their minority languages. Of course, language

attitude alone cannot guarantee a language’s survival, but I agree with Bradley and

Bradley that it is a crucial factor in the maintenance of a minority language. In fact, it

may be that a speech community’s positive attitude about its language is a prerequisite for

reversing the language shift of an endangered language. In other words, if a speech

community decides their language is worth saving—to the level of making personal,

economic, and political sacrifices to save it—then it has made the most fundamental step

in reversing that language’s shift.

Major requisites for maintaining a minority language go beyond having a speech

community with a positive attitude and high regard for their language. Speech

communities must also have a strong and supportive language policy; evidence of

affirmative corpus language planning within the minority language itself; and perhaps

most importantly according to Joshua Fishman, a language which is “normatively

operative” within the family-neighborhood-community arena. Whether or not it was the

mother tongue of the first generation, it becomes the mother tongue of the second

generation (1991: 373). Languages “successful” in reversing language shift must extend

beyond language use provided for in policy and exhibit observable use and practice “at

the knee” of the parent. According to Fishman, it is not enough—even possibly

detrimental—to believe that the “school can do it,” that is: reverse language shift.

Fundamental to inculcating a society with an unqualified belief in maintaining their language—beyond schools and institutions outside the family-neighborhood-community

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arena—is the maintenance of an attitude that passing on this language is the duty of each generation. Within the family-neighborhood-community arena is also where the most fundamental attitudes we hold about the world are forged. It therefore seems likely that a positive or negative attitude about languages would begin and end “at the hearth.”

Understanding a language attitude is a complicated and highly-debated issue, and involved are various factors that require further description.

For the purpose of my language attitude study, I began with a model of attitude I will refer to as the Lambert and Lambert multi-component model (see Figure 1). This model claims that an attitude comprises three main components: cognitive, affective and conative. The cognitive component is also described as “knowledge.” In other words, the cognitive aspect of a language attitude refers to a person’s belief structure about their language. The second component (the focus of my study), is the affective aspect. This component is what people say they know about their language, or what they say they do with their language. This second component is also called “evaluation” and refers to a person’s emotional reactions to their language. The third component is the conative aspect. This is also described as the “action” component as it aims to study what speakers actually do with their language.

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ATTITUDE

COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE CONATIVE (Knowledge) (Evaluative) (Action)

FIGURE 1

Appreciating that a “complete” account of language attitude draws upon research

and surveys of all three components, for the purpose of my study I wanted to focus on the

affective component to create a description of that which Catalans and Galicians say they know about their languages and what they say they do with their languages. As the emotional component, I believe that the affective component is fundamental to reversing negative language attitudes that may have caused decay and destruction within the speech

communities, especially during the Franco years when minority languages were

constantly battered by Franco’s desire for a unified Spain. However, a positive language

attitude alone will not amount to much in the way of reversing language shift in Catalonia

and Galicia if the conative and cognitive attitudinal aspects of these two regions do not

rise up to meet strong emotions about language maintenance. In the Basque Autonomous

Community (BAC) of Spain, Reversing Language Shift (RSL) efforts are underway and

Joshua Fishman’s study reveals some disconcerting facts about language attitude. For

one, he has found that while there is a strong positive emotion for the revival of the

Basque language and despite the fact that official “Basquization” efforts are under way,

actual numbers show that only “one quarter of the 3 million inhabitants of the BAC 23

[Basque Autonomous Community] can speak Basque reasonably well” (1991:52).

While it is of great importance that the Basque people generate ethnolinguistic pride in the revitalization of their language and culture, emotion (the affective component) alone does not create a sound language attitude necessary for the overall goal of reversing language shift. Therefore, when looking at Galicia and Catalonia, a complete study of language attitudes as a factor in language maintenance must include current studies of the conative and cognitive components. The purpose of this study was to assess the current affective component of Galician and Catalan attitudes towards their respective languages.

It is my hope that this study will be useful in the future in conjunction with other studies of the two other components of language attitude. At the same time, much can be said about the overall language attitude of the regions based primarily in the affective component. Incidentally, while aiming to study the affective component, evidence of

“actual” (conative) practice arose, so I will take the liberty to comment on linguistic practices as they were observed in action. Finally, it is my belief that the affective component best resembles the use of the concept “language attitude” as it is used by many sociolinguists. For this study, I will use “language attitude” to mean the affective side of Lambert and Lambert’s multi-component model.

M. Fishbein disagreed with a multi-component conception of attitude. He stated that “[attitude] comprises only an affective component,” criticizing the multi-component conception as “impossible to determine for each individual the actual interrelations and organization or the attitude components with respect to any one attitude subject” (138).

Fishbein said:

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“[P]eople who construct ‘attitude scales’ rarely maintain that their

instruments are measuring these components; instead they usually contend

that their scales indicate people’s evaluation (pro-con) of objects or

concepts. Thus, although attitudes are often said to include all three

components, it is usually only the evaluative or ‘the affective component’

that is measured and treated by researchers as the essence of attitudes”

(ibid: 108).

Language attitudes, according to Bradley and Bradley, involves “the group’s

attitude about itself and its language, [and] [e]qually crucial is whether language is

regarded as a core cultural value—whether a group sees their language and its

maintenance as a key aspect of the group’s identity” (2002: 1). Bradley and Bradley are using “language attitude” here and throughout their work in an all-encompassing, pre-

Lambert Model way. They do not parse out the multi-components of a language attitude;

instead they are using “language attitude” in a general way to discuss its overall meaning

as a key factor to language maintenance. It is important to know what comprises a

language attitude (cognitive/affective/conative), as mentioned above, but it needs to be

pointed out that Bradley and Bradley’s use of language attitude best resembles the

“affective” component of the Lambert model.

Throughout my survey, I pressed Galicians and Catalans for the value they placed

on their respective languages as an identifying factor of what they believed made one a

Galician or Catalan. The question I asked was: “¿Qué es lo que usted considera lo más

característico de la identidad catalana/gallega?” (“What factors do you consider the

most characteristic of the Catalan identity?”) Of the Catalan respondents, an impressive

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62% (see Figure 2) believed that language was the most important identifying factor of the Catalan identity. In Galicia, 47% (see Figure 3) believed language to be the most important identifying factor of a Galician. The strong language attitudes possessed by both groups indicates the kind of healthy linguistic self-concept Bradley and Bradley refer to as crucial factors in the maintenance of a language.

Most Important Factors of Catalan Identity

19%

Language 5% Place of Birth Work with Catalans 3% Years Residing in Catalonia 62% 11% Ethnicity of Parents

FIGURE 2

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Most Important Factors of Galician Identity

15%

Language 9% Place of Birth 47% Work with Catalans 5% Years Residing in Galicia Ethnicity of Parents

24%

FIGURE 3

In my questionnaire, I devised both “open” and “closed” questions. I attempted to catch my respondents reflecting the same answer through more than one parallel question. In the “open” questions, I found respondents eager to discuss their language and culture. On the other hand, through the “closed” questions, respondents sensed the confinement of the questions and wanted to explain their answers. Often a respondent would take the liberty to expound on their answers to the “closed” questions by writing notes in the margins of the questionnaire. For the “closed” questions, I employed a variety of designs ranging from “attitude scales” to “yes-no” response questions. Using closed questions, I have been able to easily compare responses and compile statistics.

However, the open questions were a positive way to look more specifically at the elements that comprise language attitudes in Catalonia and Galicia.

As for the respondents I chose for the study, I was careful to survey ages ranging from adolescence to elderly (15-95 years old). Looking at age groups was valuable for

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ascertaining the next generation’s attitude about their regional language in comparison to the age group that lived through Franco and, when possible, some people of advanced ages that remembered the pre-Franco era. I will return to compare and contrast the age groups in order to highlight what I believe to be a positive sign for the future of both of these languages.

By comparison to age, the sex of the respondent demonstrated negligible differences of opinion. Even combining age and sex made no difference in the respondent’s attitude. As an aside, and based on personal experience living in these regions, I have found that sexual equality is quite advanced in comparison to the United

States. This may imply that language maintenance is viewed as the shared duty of all members of these two societies.

Education level also had little bearing on the language attitude of the respondents.

In my study, I surveyed people from all walks of life including doctors, lawyers, professors, construction workers, store owners, students, unemployed, and retired elderly.

The numbers of people from each of these sectors of society were too small to make any statistical assertions about class and language attitude, but the broad array of respondents made it possible for me to look at a broad cross-section of both societies. This broad perspective was necessary to make an overall assessment of language attitude as it pertains to the two speech communities as a whole. At the same time, the “open” questions provide rich anecdotes for attitude as it pertains to one’s social status. From these personal responses, I’ve made some rational assumptions to which I will return in

Chapters 4 and 5.

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I also looked at rural versus urban responses. In these cases, similar to age, I found one’s intra-regional location to have a moderate effect in determining one’s

attitude. In Catalonia, for example, my journeys back into the countryside found that

nationalist pride was strong, and the belief that language was the most important factor in determining Catalan identity was similar to that of the respondents from the urban areas.

However, the strength of nationalist pride increased greatly the closer one travels north

through Catalonia. Barcelona also seemed to be the nexus of Catalan nationalism.

Interestingly, however, is the reality that most of Catalonia’s non-native immigrants or

Spanish in-migrants flock to Barcelona. This reality may explain the increased

nationalism as a Catalan may feel the need to be overtly proud in order to distinguish

him/herself, but it is also very likely that Barcelona maintains its self-image as the

bastion of all that is Catalan. Outside of Barcelona, the city of 4-5 million can range

from a source of pride to an over-zealous center of snobbery. What is important to

understand is that in both Galicia and Catalonia, one’s attitude towards Catalan and

Galician seemed to correlate more with one’s generation and one’s location within

Catalonia or Galicia, than by one’s sex or occupation.

Throughout the course of this survey, I ran across respondents native and non-

native Catalan speakers. In fact, I even interviewed immigrants from non-Castilian

speaking backgrounds. I was intrigued by their responses and attitudes about Catalan

language and culture. I felt it was only fair to include them in the study since they make

up a portion of the society in which the future of Catalan is being decided. I believed that

if they had negative feelings about the whole linguistic debate and were disaffected by

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Catalan nationalists, that they were unlikely to side with Catalan in national debates,

siding instead with the Spanish nationalists.

Language attitudes, according to Annika Hohenthal, “are crucial in language growth or decay, restoration or destruction” (). “The status and importance of a language in society and within an individual derives largely from adopted or learnt attitudes” (Hohenthal). It is important to understand that language attitudes are not inherited but learned. Hohenthal continues to explain that “[a]n attitude is individual, but it has origins in collective behavior”

(). It seems logical then that there is a correlation between the collective behavior that shapes a language attitude and the collective behavior that characterizes ethnic nationalism. Perhaps then, where minority “group think” based in a positive collective identity is prevalent, language attitudes tend to be healthy and positive for the maintenance of an endangered language.

As I will show later in this study, Galicia and Catalonia both exhibit strong ethnic nationalism and, for the time being, healthy and positive attitudes about their languages.

In turn, these positive attitudes play an integral role in the reversal of language shift and the overall maintenance of the languages.

Understanding that linguistic communities are constantly changing—whether that be changes to varieties, standards, attitudes, status, etc.—it is important to generate current descriptions, especially if one hopes to look at language maintenance efforts. In fact, it’s possible that a minority language community could have been cruising along smoothly on the road to “successful” language shift reversal when things unexpectedly took a turn for the worse. For that matter, there is no reason to believe that Catalan or

30

Galician will automatically be around in the next couple of generations. Language

maintenance efforts are on-going and must remain inventive and vigilant. Language

attitudes about the importance of Catalan and Galician must be forged at the hearth of an

increasing number of Catalan-speaking and Galician-speaking homes.

Similarly, positive language attitudes about maintaining Catalan and Galician

must be a welcomed choice by immigrants and in-migrants. Therefore, as an outsider, I

tried to look at Catalonia and Galicia and the myriad ways they are transmitting their

language and culture. In addition to the more anecdotal observations, I took note of the

variety of media, cultural and social infrastructure, and aspects of daily life that is available in Catalan and Galician. Included in this study are statistics from a recent census done within Catalonia and the other regions where Catalan is spoken. Most importantly, I conducted my survey through personal interviews and a questionnaire. It is through this latter assessment that I was best able to quantify language attitudes in

Catalonia.

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Chapter 3

CATALONIA

In a recent edition of a Catalan newspaper, Avui (7/17/06), there was an editorial claiming the utter inferiority of Spanish as a language, and, conversely the superiority of

Catalan. Frequent perusal of Catalan newspapers would surely result in the discovery of similar editorials. In fact, a fascinating study could be conducted looking at the on-going expression of language loyalty that is common place inside of nationalistic Catalonia.

Included below, this editorial is an interesting point of departure for this chapter in which

I will reveal the data from my survey on Catalan language attitudes. It is “interesting” because of the extreme nature of the editorial which expresses an extreme perspective of linguistic determinism despite a lack of any possibility to quantify its claims. Instead, we can use this editorial as an expression of language loyalty in its purest form. This Catalan language loyalist is fanatically calling for the preservation of his language by

32

deterministically elevating Catalan above the language it has competed with for centuries.

In the editorial, titled “Llir entre cards: Parlar espanyol es de pobres” [“A Lilly Among

Thistles: Spanish is the language of Poverty”], Salvador Sostres exclaims:

A Barcelona fa molt hortera parlar espanyol, jo només el parlo amb la

minyona i amb alguns empleats. És de pobres i d'horteres, d'analfabets i

de gent de poc nivell parlar un idioma que fa aquest soroll tan espantós

per pronunciar la jota. Aquests que no parlen en català sovint tampoc no

saben anglès, ni francès, ni qui és monsieur Paccaud. Però no només a

Catalunya l'espanyol és un símptoma de classe baixa. L'amic Riera em

facilita aquestes dades de l'ONU del 2002. Renda per càpita de Noruega,

36.600 dòlars; Dinamarca, 30.940; Islàndia, 29.750. Tots tres països

riquíssims, amb economies internacionalitzades i llengües més petites que

la nostra però que les parlen sense complex. Contra aquesta absurda

creença que el català ens tanca portes, aquestes dades prou eloqüents de

si serveix o no serveix una llengua minoritària. En canvi en el meravellós

món hispànic la pobresa és l'única dada. La mitjana dels 13 principals

països americans que tenen l'espanyol com a llengua, comptat des de

l'Argentina, Xile i Mèxic fins a Nicaragua, Hondures i l'Equador, és de

6.209 atrotinats dòlars de renda per càpita. Catalunya parlant català i

malgrat l'espoli fiscal infligit per una Espanya que no té ni la decència de

publicar les xifres del robatori, té una renda de 26.420 dòlars. Hem de

triar model: Noruega o afegir-nos a la caravana de la misèria. Només cal

veure com les zones més riques de l'Estat tenen una altra llengua pròpia: i

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és evident que l'Estat el mantenim, pagant molt i molt, els que no parlem

en tercermundista. És veritat que en espanyol s'han escrit pàgines d'una bellesa emocionant, però el destí dels països que el parlen ha estat històricament d'una fatalitat irrevocable. Parlar espanyol sí que tanca portes, i destins: mira. L'independentisme a Catalunya està absolutament justificat encara que només sigui per fugir de la caspa i de la pols, de la tristesa de ser espanyol.

[In Barcelona Spanish is only the language of lower class: chambermaids and other employees. It’s the language of dummies: the illiterate and such low people as to speak a language that makes that frightening “jota” noise.

Those non-Catalan speakers also don’t know English, French or who monsieur Paccaud is. But it’s not only in Catalonia that Spanish is a symptom of lower class. My friend Riera provides me these U.N. data from 2002. Per capita income: Norway, $36,600; Denmark, $30,940;

Iceland, $29,750. All 3 very rich countries, international economies and languages even smaller than ours but they speak without problems.

Against that absurd belief that Catalan is a barrier, those data are eloquent proof of whether a minority language is adequate or not. On the other hand, all the marvelous Hispanic world shows is poverty. Counting from

Argentina, Chile and Mexico through to Nicaragua, Honduras and

Ecuador, the average income of the 13 main American countries that have

Spanish as their language is a miserable $6,209 per capita. Catalonia speaks Catalan and in spite of the fiscal plundering inflicted by a Spain

34

that doesn’t even have the decency to publish these facts of thievery, it has

a rent of 26.420 dollars. We have to choose a model: Norway or to add to

the caravan of the misery. It is only necessary to see how the richest zones

of the State have another own language: and it is evident that we sustain

the State paying a lot and a lot, those that we do not speak in the third-

world. It is true that pages have been written in Spanish of great beauty,

but the fortunes of the countries that speak it have historically been an

irrevocable disaster. Speaking Spanish does close doors and

opportunities; just look. Catalonia’s separateness is absolutely justified

even if it’s only to flee from the scum and the dust, the sadness of being

Spanish (Approximate translation by the Department of Modern and

Classical Languages and Literatures 2006)] (Sostres, Salvador, Avui, July

17, 2006: ).

LANGUAGE ATTITUDES IN CATALONIA

While a similar kind of extreme language attitude as the one expressed by Sostres was not articulated in the questionnaires my respondents filled out, there were some, albeit infrequent, expressions such as these made during informal settings thought to be

“off the record.” There was a correlation between respondents that voiced similar extremism and respondents that asked why I was conducting my survey in Spanish rather than Catalan. Not surprisingly, these respondents wrote comments in the margins of the questionnaire to the effect that the survey should have been written in Catalan. Subtly emerging from the questionnaire was a strong self-perception—perhaps arrogant

35

attitude—expressed by the native Catalan speakers that their language gives them a

powerful linguistic advantage over native Castilian speakers and even over native French

speakers (see Figure 4). I asked respondents to rank in order of easiest to hardest the

ability of native Catalan, French or Spanish speakers to learn each other’s languages.

Resoundingly, native Catalan speakers believed themselves able to learn both Catalan and Castilian more easily than a native French speaker could learn either Catalan or

Castilian. In the case of their opinions towards a native Castilian learning either Catalan

or French, their attitudes were similarly unfavorable. In other words, native Catalan

speakers believed a Castilian is least adept at learning a second language that is as closely

related as Catalan and French. As we will see later, native Galicians do not uphold this

level of self-confidence.

EASIEST SECOND LANGUAGE TO LEARN: Native Catalan-speaking Respondents

91% Catalan to Castilian Catalan to French Castilian to Catalan Castilian to French French to Catalan French to Castilian 1% 3% 1% 3% 1%

FIGURE 4

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Surprisingly, of the native Castilian speakers surveyed, their opinions about their

own abilities weren’t much better (see Figure 5).

EASIEST SECOND LANGUAGE TO LEARN: Native Castilian-speaking Respondents

41% Catalan to Castilian Catalan to French Castilian to Catalan Castilian to French 42% French to Catalan 1% French to Castilian 14% 1% 1%

FIGURE 5

Perhaps one factor for the extreme attitude is the combative relationship it has had with Spanish throughout its history. As noted in the previous chapter, Franco tried to advance the thinking that the minority languages of Spain were mere dialects of Spanish, making them inferior and thus unworthy of maintenance. Not only did Franco’s efforts to portray Catalan or Galician as mere dialects of Spanish fail, there seems to be a notable antithetical attitude about languages on the Iberian Peninsula.

Another possible explanation for the language attitudes among the respondents I surveyed could be the commonly held, but fallacious, notion that Catalan is derived from

French or vice versa. This notion leads to the belief that the Catalan speaker has an advantage while learning French. It may indeed be true that Catalan has more in common with French than does Spanish, but this is not because the French or Catalan languages were descendants of each other. Geography does point to a reality that

37

Catalonia is wedged between Spain and France, and therefore would seem to suggest that as these three Romance languages were developing that Catalonia benefited from overlap from the other two regions. Though it is not the purpose of this paper to discuss the linguistic history of Catalan, but instead to look at language attitudes, it is worthwhile to point out possible explanations for the derivation of current attitudes.

Catalan is indisputably its own language. It meets all four of Fishman’s categories: Standardization, Historicity, Vitality and Autonomy (1971: 28). Catalan has a standard form that centers on the speech of the educated classes of Barcelona and is most closely related to Central Catalan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_language).

Within Catalan itself, there are two main dialects, Western and Eastern (see Map 1), as well as a variety of sub-dialects within smaller divisions of Catalonia. As discussed in the previous chapter,

38

MAP 1

Source:

39

Catalan has a strong literary and spoken tradition declaring its own historicity. Since

autonomy deals with the very issue discussed in the editorial by Sostres (a societal view

that Catalan and Spanish are unique languages), we can begin to appreciate the location

of the frontline in the debate between minority and dominant languages. A language

loyalist such as Sostres is merely acting to distinguish (“autonomize”) his language from

Spanish.

My survey revealed that most Catalans clearly believe Catalan to be its own unique language: autonomous from both Spanish and French. Not a single respondent from my survey—whether a native Catalan speaker or a native Spanish speaker— believed Catalan to be the same language as Castilian (Spanish). This is a strong indication of the sense of autonomy that the Catalan speech community maintains about

their language.

Impressively, of a population of 6.2 million, only 338,877 people claim to not

understand Catalan (see Figure 6). These numbers reflect a language that exceedingly

meets the definition of “vitality.” Fishman stated that “[t]he more numerous and the

more important the native speakers of a particular variety are the greater its vitality and

the greater its potential for standardization, autonomy, and historicity (1991: 27).

Considering these impressive numbers, Catalan—for the time being at least—appears to

have large number of speakers. Since the vast majority of Catalan society speaks

Catalan, one could surmise that Catalan speakers are from every walk of life, and from all over the world.

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2001 CENSUS: Catalan Language Statistics from within Catalonia

6,176,751 7,000,000 5,837,874 Understand Catalan 6,000,000 4,602,611 4,590,483 Do not understand Catalan 5,000,000 Speak Catalan 4,000,000 3,077,044 Write Catalan 3,000,000 Read Catalan 2,000,000 Total Population 1,000,000 338,877 0

FIGURE 6

Notes: The population base used had lived in Catalonia for 2 or more years.

Source: Statistical data from 2001 census: Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya,

Generalitat catalana.

The total number of people that claim to understand Catalan has now reached over ten million. The total number of people claiming to speak Catalan worldwide has reached over seven million. It is important to note the large number of people who claim to understand and speak Catalan outside of Catalonia, in order to appreciate the overall vitality of the Catalan language. Most impressive among Catalan’s gains is in the number of people that are able to write it. Between 1986 and 2001, the number of people able to write in Catalan grew from 31% to 49% (

Language>). For a more detailed description of the exact number of Catalan speakers and those that understand it both inside and outside of Catalonia, see Figures 7 and 8.

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NUMBER OF CATALAN SPEAKERS Territories Where Catalan is Official

7,129,401 TOTAL 10,145,957 49,519 Andorra 62,381 504,349 Can Speak Balearic Islands 733,466 Understand 1,972,922 Valencia 3,512,236 4,602,611 Catalonia 5,837,874

FIGURE 7

NUMBER OF CATALAN SPEAKERS Other Territories

TOTAL 538,247 270,371

Rest of World 350,000 0 0 Carxe (Murcia, Spain) 0 Can Speak Understand La Franja (Aragon, Spain) 45,000 47,250

Northern Catalonia (France) 125,622 203,121 17,625 Alghero (Sardinia, Italy) 20,000

FIGURE 8

Notes: Where the value is “0” there were no data available.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_language

Within Girona—and in some cases outside of it (Figure 9)—there is a prevalent attitude that the “purest” form of Catalan is spoken here and that Barcelona has the most modern form. However, the Catalan of Barcelona is heavily influenced by 42

“castellanismos.” Even an Argentine who had only lived in Catalonia for 8 months was

able to voice this attitude. How he learned this opinion is an interesting question. One

must speculate that this notion was commonly repeated to him over the short eight

months he’d been there.

Where is the purest form of Catalan spoken?

36% 39% Girona Lleida Tarragona Barcelona Doesn't Exist

14% 4% 7%

FIGURE 9

The people of Girona that I interviewed describe the kind of Catalan spoken there in a unique way, especially as one approaches the Pyrenees Mountains. They said that the people in the rural and isolated places speak a very “closed” and “pure” form of

Catalan. Some also used the adjective “closed” to describe the way in which the people of Girona are “closed” to the idea of speaking Castilian. Although this language attitude was intuitively derived and lacks obvious scientific verification, I definitely think that people can start to believe in their own reputations, myths and attitudes, and that they can often act accordingly. Belief in myths and reputations about one’s language stimulates a self-fulfilling prophecy. For the purpose of language attitude studies the self-fulfilling

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prophecy helps explain the powerful force behind widespread language attitudes as an agent for shaping language policy.

Many of those responding to this question also made small notations seemingly

backing off their firm belief that Girona was the site of the purest form of Catalan. For example, many wrote “todas formas son buenas” (“all forms are good”). These qualifications were either the politically correct thing to say, or may have signaled a more critical response that is taking shape in Catalonia that the Catalan people are aware that the very idea of a “purest” form of their language is irrelevant.

CATALAN IN THE MEDIA

A strong presence of Catalan in the print media1 demonstrates the financial opportunity investors see in committing their money to preserving the Catalan language.

This kind of opportunistic commitment is often the true mark of commitment considering

the strong attachment most societies have to their money and the reality that money is

needed to create the institutional support necessary for language maintenance.

Newspapers are almost entirely supported by advertising monies. Therefore, the large corporations and businesses investing in the propagation of Catalan newspapers must see this opportunity as a sound business investment.

While I cannot speculate as to the exact motives of these business men/women, it seems reasonable to suggest that the business community has thoroughly investigated the market for supporting a Catalan language media and found it to be a lucrative investment.

When one considers the profit motive as the primary motivating force in corporate

1 While there were an abundance of newspapers offered in Catalan, major magazines still tended to be mostly in Castilian Spanish. 44

investment—not social improvement—one must take seriously the idea that investors

have observed a demand for Catalan language print and are taking advantage of these

language attitudes. It is almost as if market principles help to create a disinterested

mechanism of language maintenance.

Driving around the countryside of Catalonia, with the radio on, one is likely to get

the impression that they are in a different country. The majority of the radio stations I

have come across are in Catalan. According to statistics from the Generalitat

(http://www6.gencat.net/dgma/angles/ccatala.htm) in 2002, nearly 98% of municipal

radio stations in Catalonia broadcast at least 50% of their programming in Catalan. More

impressively, 66% of these municipal radio stations broadcast 100% in Catalan. As far as commercial radio is concerned, an astonishing 70% of commercial radio stations provide

at least 50% of their broadcast in Catalan, while 47% of the commercial radio in

Catalonia is delivered 100% in Catalan.

As an interesting side note, language maintenance within the region of Catalonia

goes beyond Catalan. In the small borderland of Valle d’ Aran (in the Pyrenees, on the

border with France), there are concerted efforts to preserve the Aranese language. Radio

is one of the mediums it is hoped will give voice to their language. Several major

Catalan stations allow the Aranese to give broadcasts in their language during fixed

timeslots. The Aranese are also giving educational instruction in Aranese and Catalan.

This effort is salient to this discussion because it points to the overall efforts being made

in Spain to maintain minority languages.

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LANGUAGE CHOICE FOR MEDIA SOURCES

Radio 33% 17% 50%

Internet 17% 17% 66%

Television 42% 8% 50%

Newspapers and magazines 50% 13% 37%

Catalan Castilian Both

FIGURE 10

Though the presence of bookstores in Catalonia has still not reached the level of that in the U.S., according to several bookstore owners I interviewed, they are on the rise.

The books in these stores were available as much, if not more, in Catalan. At least one person, a Galician professor, commented that popular fiction reaching Spain from non-

Spanish-speaking countries is often translated into Catalan even before Spanish. For example, one would likely observe the bestsellers stand full of books such as The Da

Vinci Code translated for Catalan readers.

Apart from the many books available in Catalan through translation, many

Catalan writers are emerging from the 9-10 million Catalan speakers. Organizations such as L'Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (AELC) have as their objective:

“Mantenir una presència constant en el món cultural, tant català com estranger.” Less a business endeavor, and more one of genuine language maintenance concern, the AELC hopes to defend the collective interests of Catalan writers and to promote the Catalan

46

language and culture. It is important to recall the rich cultural history of Catalonia as

mentioned in the previous chapter on Catalan history.

The dearth of Catalan magazines or magazines available in Catalan is an

interesting quandary. It may show that economics is not the only factor determining what

is and is not available to speakers of minority languages. Where newspapers, book

publishers, TV and radio have found the market for a Catalan language product a

lucrative endeavor, some magazine companies that are not owned and controlled by the

speakers of the minority languages continue to make their products available in Spanish

only. Similarly from the film industry, in 1995, Walt Disney refused to allow

Pocahontas to be dubbed into Catalan despite the fact that the Generalitat de Catalunya

offered to fund the dubbing completely. The explanation offered as to why Disney had

refused to dub the movie was that movies in Catalan were not making money. However,

Eduard Vallory i Subiràa of Avui, a popular Catalan newspaper, argued that by

“[j]uggling with the numbers, and by ignoring that movies in Catalan are exhibited in less

frequented theaters” (Vallory i Subiraa, Eduard. Avui, November 20, 1995), the distributors were able to argue that it was a financial decision. After a boycott against

Disney, the next year’s hit film “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” was dubbed into

Catalan.

Earlier that month, Josep Maria López i Llaví, also from Avui explained that:

“The Spanish state market has become controlled by five transnational corporations that have swept away the Catalan distributors. These corporations monopolize the great

Hollywood productions, many of the independent U.S. films, and an increasing volume of the European ones” (Lopez i Llavi, Josep Maria. Avui, November 1, 1995).

47

According to the Catalan journalist, Spanish distributors are seizing on this monopoly

and they are ignoring the Constitutional provision for language normalization through the pretext of financial competition. However, seemingly backing this claim of low financial return, four of the major U.S. film distributors (UIP, Disney, 20th Century and Warner),

are all refusing to have their films dubbed into Catalan despite the standing offer by the

Generalitat to finance the dubbing.

As evidenced in my survey, people are by and large using Catalan papers and

listening to Catalan news, even using Catalan websites. At the local newsstands one is

likely to find the following newspapers offered:

• El Periódico: offered in two separate issues, one with blue markings in

Catalan, and one with red markings in Spanish:

• Segre was offered in both Spanish and Catalan at the time of my research

(2004), but is now only available in Catalan:

48

• Avui is available in Catalan only:

• El Punt is available in Catalan only:

49

• Diari de Tarragona is bilingual with articles in Spanish and articles in

Catalan. It consists mostly of Op Eds, letters to the editors, etc.

• Diari de Barcelona is available online and is available in Catalan only:

• Diari de Balears is available in Catalan only:

• El Mundo: Spanish only. This is a national paper.

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• El País: Spanish only. This is a national paper and Spain’s most widely

sold newspaper.

• La Vanguardia: Spanish only. This is a national paper.

• Sabadell -- Sabadell, Catalonia -- Updated daily. (Catalan)

• As: Spanish only. This is a sports magazine sold as a daily, and is very

popular.

• Sport: Spanish only. This is a sports magazine sold as a daily.

• Marca: Spanish only. This is a sports magazine sold as a daily,

supposedly the second most read paper after El País.

MONOLINGUALS

I was curious to find out if there exist Catalan monolinguals. Throughout my

investigation, I asked and interviewed informally to find out if ordinary Catalan citizens

knew of such an individual. During one interview, an interviewee told me of Catalan

monolinguals, but surprisingly, she said they come from the age group of 2-6 years. Her

explanation was that this is because they are not being exposed to Castellano at home nor

in their daily lives. She also claimed that eventually all Catalan youth will be exposed to

Castellano in school.

I tried speaking with her kids, ages 4 and 7, but neither child was able to speak with me since all I speak is English and Spanish. The seven-year-old understood a little of what I was saying, but her mother attributed this to her minimal exposure to Spanish at school since neither she nor her husband speak Castellano at home with their children.

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As another example, I was leaving Figueres, in the Northwest of Catalonia, when

I pulled over to the side of the road to take a picture of the distant Pyrenees when I

spotted a young mother playing in a field with her children. I decided to approach her to

further investigate these claims that many children in Catalonia are indeed monolingual.

What I found was that, in this case at least, this notion held true. Neither of her children understood the Castilian we were speaking. Her girls were ages five and three. The five- year-old had been learning a Castilian song, and so knew some Castilian, but she could not understand anything we asked her. Therefore, I have found that if a monolingual were to exist in Catalonia, it would almost certainly have to be a young child. I found that the oldest people in the most remote villages all, without exception, spoke some

Castilian. In fact, not one knew of the possibility of a monolingual existing.

Furthermore, these elderly Catalan people were without exception educated in Castilian due to the conditions imposed following the Civil War.

During another interview, I spoke with an elderly woman that would not speak

Castellano with me. She was in a small town in Girona (Gerona in Castellano). She would only speak to me in Catalan even though I asked her questions in Castellano. This was clearly a strong statement from her. I asked her if she spoke Castellano and she laughed saying of course she did.

So while myths abound of monolingual speakers of Catalan, I did not come across one (save children that had not yet attended school). As far as language attitude is concerned, however, it is interesting that several of the Catalan people I interviewed believed that Catalan monolinguals exist. In fact, it seemed a source of pride that such people existed somewhere even if in myth only.

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CATALAN IN DAILY USE, LEGAL, AND BUSINESS AFFAIRS

As one approaches individuals on the street, in stores, restaurants, bars and hotels, one is likely to find that Castellano is readily available, however, Catalan is preferred and it is what is primarily heard. The Generalitat mandated that Microsoft software be made available in Catalan. Recently, Catalan was made an official language of the European

Union. Road signs throughout Catalonia are written in Catalan exclusively. Movies are frequently dubbed into Catalan. Many books are being translated into Catalan even before being translated into Spanish. Catalan is everywhere and seems to be thriving despite its precarious history alongside the dominate language Spanish.

The old bilingual signs displaying towns and cities in both Castilian and Catalan are gone or rapidly disappearing. The same can be said for information displayed on signs at government buildings, museums, etc. Similarly, road construction projects— which are approved by the Generalitat de Catalunya—are also written in Catalan.

Commercial signs are likewise written in Catalan. It is logical that commercial endeavors in Catalonia do not want to risk losing customers by advertising in Spanish. By going along with the idea of advertising in Catalan, they don’t risk losing customers who by majority are Catalan speakers. If one commercial business were to launch an ad campaign in Castilian Spanish, they’d be singling themselves out and their potential target consumer would be in a clear minority.

I listened to a conversation where acquaintances were conversing and one continued to use Catalan even though the friend (who happened to be from Italy but had lived in Catalonia for years) was responding in Castellano. Perhaps Catalans want to speak Catalan and want people who live there to speak Catalan, but will tolerate non-

53

Catalan speakers to a small degree. This same phenomenon happened to me when, on several different occasions, I would try to speak Castilian Spanish with Catalan residents who would respond to me only in Catalan, but seemed to do it without irreverence or rudeness just simple matter of fact. In fact, frequently during these conversations they would pause to ask me if I understood what they were saying in Catalan before proceeding. There were never occasions where the speaker asked if I preferred that they speak Castilian considering they definitely knew how to speak it. Some of those I interviewed explained to me that there are people who simply feel more comfortable speaking Catalan and so naturally speak what they feel most comfortable speaking.

Almost all legal information and notices are mailed out in Catalan. Legal information is mailed to residents of Catalonia in Catalan without regard for one’s language. According to one respondent, she receives notices from the Generalitat de

Catalonia in Catalan without regard for her ability to read it. She is a German immigrant

who has lived in Catalonia for nearly forty years. She does not take offense to the

government’s decision to use Catalan. She felt it was her responsibility to learn Catalan.

While in Cambrils, Tarragona, I interviewed a judge. He explained that in the courts, all proceedings are conducted in the language of the plaintiffs and defendants.

The judge may be Catalan and begin by speaking in Catalan, but if either party requests, proceedings must be conducted in Castellano. Also according to the Catalan judge, since there is no precedence of monolingual Catalans appearing in court, the potentially divisive issue of proceeding with more than one language being used has not yet occurred. If a defendant gets a judge that speaks Castellano, he/she can request a Catalan speaking judge even though they may speak Castellano without problem.

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Frequency of Catalan Use

Shopping Family functions With friends Writing, email Legal proceedings Popular songs Patriotic Hymns Religious ceremonies Popular sayings, refrains At parties At school At work In the house

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Always Almost Always Sometimes Never

FIGURE 11

Doctors write “informes” (diagnoses) in both languages. It usually depends on the language choice of the doctor rather than the patient. However, according the

German immigrant (who is learning Catalan because of her conditioned belief that it is her duty to do so as a citizen in Catalonia), the decision of which language should be used is settled between the patient and their doctor if the patient does not speak Catalan. The

German immigrant explained that throughout her forty years in Catalonia she had experienced doctors that speak both languages, but when she requested a written

Castellano diagnosis the doctor willingly obliged. Her impression was that doctors were not always legally bound to write up their work in Castellano or Catalan.

La Generalitat offers adult classes in Catalan. It is available for immigrants as well as for Catalans that never had the opportunity to learn it during the rule of Franco

55

who prohibited its teaching prior to 1978. There are many Catalans who grew up under the rule of Franco and would have normally attended K-12 during the dictatorship. Were

it not for Franco, these students would have learned to read, write, and speak Catalan in school. However, due to the outlawed status of the Catalan language, it is logical to assume that many Catalans today are not proficient in the written grammar and spelling of Catalan.

Throughout the course of my survey, I found just such a reality to be true among working class adults between the ages of 40-60. One woman I interviewed was proud to be learning to read and write Catalan. She admitted to feeling embarrassed among some of her Catalan peers, but reiterated that she was happy to be learning Catalan and that she believed this education would afford her new opportunities. Finally, she said it was only right that she and Catalans in similar situations be given this opportunity.

Interviewees also responded to their attitudes about the frequency of use in specific social environments of daily life. Opinions about when and where Catalan should be spoken tends to be very politically charged. The reason for this is multi- faceted. As a business owner, one tries to be sensitive to one’s customers. A customer could be from anywhere and speak any number of languages, but it is very likely that

Catalan is not among them. Also on a worksite, one should ideally try to be sensitive to

one’s workers. In this case, much of Catalonia’s working class consists of in-migrants

(from Spanish-speaking Spain) or immigrants who are non-native Catalan speakers.

On the other hand, native Catalan speakers seemed to say that Catalan is not

spoken enough in several social environments. Figure 12 provides a breakdown of those

attitudes. One interesting response which seems to contradict the statistics provided by

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the Generalitat mentioned above is that nearly 32% of Catalans still do not believe

Catalan is used enough in the media. Also, around 32% of Catalans do not feel Catalan is

sufficiently used in the university setting.

IS CATALAN USED ENOUGH IN THE FOLLOWING PLACES?

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0% Media At work At Church In sportsIn University Commerce Elementary Junior and High School Yes No

FIGURE 12

On the questionnaire forms of several of the native Castilian speakers were written comments to the effect that Catalan was used “in excess.” Though this sentiment is not surprising considering their linguistic isolation within Catalonia, it is also important to note that these respondents qualified their remarks with additional comments expressing an understanding of what Catalans are trying to do with their language.

Official language status continues to prove a hot-button political topic throughout the world. This is no exception in Catalonia. The results of a question I posed to Catalan

57

respondents yielded some interesting findings concerning the language attitudes of

Catalan citizens. As seen in Figure 13, not a single respondent found a return to the 1978

status of Castilian as the only official language of Spain to be the “most acceptable”

scenario for Catalans. On the other end of the spectrum, 67% of respondents thought that

Catalan should be the only official language of Catalonia. Perhaps the most surprising result was that an astonishing 55% of Catalan speakers find it “acceptable” or “most acceptable” that Catalan is given co-official status alongside Spanish at a national level.

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67% 1) Catalan as only official 13% language of Catalonia 13% 9% 5% 2) Catalan coofficial in all of 50% Spain (et. al.) 31% 17% 27% 3) Catalan coofficial in Catalonia 23% Most acceptable w/ Castilian 50% 0% Acceptable 0% Less acceptable 4) Castilian only official language 9% Least acceptable (1978) 13% 77%

Attitudes About "Official Language"

FIGURE 13

Returning to Fishman’s four categories for determining the difference between a language and a dialect, we can observe the attitudes held by the Catalan people. In particular, we should look at their opinions about the historicity and autonomy of Catalan in the eye of the beholder. According to my research, 80% of the respondents believed

Catalan to be as important as Castilian. Similarly, 77% believed Catalan to have as important a history as Castilian. Joshua Fishman called “prestige” one of six factors that enhance language maintenance (Fishman, Language Loyalty, 444). Considering the

Catalan people’s attitude that their language is as relevant as the dominant language of

Spain and that it has a history as important as Castilian indicates the prestige Catalan’s

bestow their language (see Figures 14 and 15).

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Is Catalan as Important as Castilian?

23%

Yes No

77%

FIGURE 14

Does Catalan Have as Important a History as Castilian?

26%

Yes No

74%

FIGURE 15

When asked if—“in reality”—Catalan and Castilian were the same language, 100% of the respondents (both native and non-native Catalan speakers) said “no.” The exact same 100% said that Catalan and French were not the same language. Unlike many

English-speaking Americans who seem to know very little about their language, its history, derivatives, etc, the Catalan respondents of my survey seemed to have a strong 60

acquaintance with these aspects of their language. Recalling Figures 4 and 5, it is logical to assume the respondents understand the similarities their language has with Castilian

and French, but also clearly appreciate the autonomy of their language.

The Catalan people I interviewed also have a strong appreciation for the presence of a standardized form of the language (they locate that form in Girona) and seem to agree upon some perceivable changes happening to the Catalan language. As Figure 14 demonstrates, Catalans believe there have been changes in vocabulary and norms of use, but little to no change in the grammar and pronunciation. Most of the respondents

seemed to be in agreement that the vocabulary changes were due to globalization and the

external commercial forces being exerted on the Catalan language. A common concern

expressed was the influence of Castilian in-migrants and the potential “castilianization”

of Catalan (something that has already begun to take place in Galicia, as will be discussed

in Chapter 5). Barcelona was pointed to as the site of most linguistic change and exhibiting a lack of purity even if it is the source of Catalan nationalistic pride.

Barcelona is a commercial giant and a magnet for job opportunities, thus attracting foreign influences. “By far the most active and apparently successful language promotion programmes are taking place in Catalonia, which is unsurprising given that it

is the largest and wealthiest of the three relevant communities [Catalonia, Galicia and the

Basque Country]” (Mar-Molinero, 109).

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Perceived Changes to the Catalan Language

80%

Yes

63% 33% No 73% 67% 27%

No 20% 37%

Yes Grammar Norms of Use Vocabulary Pronunciation

FIGURE 16

On the day that I arrived to La Seu d’Urgell, Provincia Lleída, I interviewed the last person for my research in Catalonia before heading to Galicia, and found that again the people I was interviewing were full of feelings, attitudes, opinions and notions about

Catalan, Catalonia, Spain, minority languages, etc. That is when I was struck with the crux of my thesis. It may not matter at all if the people of Catalonia from north to south or east and west have perfectly matching opinions about what should be done for the future of their language and culture. What truly matters is that all their talk, opinions, attitudes and notions demonstrates a very vital and thriving self-awareness about the issue of language, culture and Catalan itself. Furthermore, this vitality signals a healthy language. It seems not to matter if there exists a perfect consensus about how to proceed on the language policy level. For all intents and purposes, the process of language maintenance is in full swing and is not waiting for institutional approval to take action 62

towards minority language preservation. The indications of my research reveal positive signs within the area of language attitude, which subsequently will contribute to the maintenance of the Catalan language. The language is being tugged at, manipulated, conspicuously examined and probed into every corner, and this seems to mean that the language is pulsing throughout the Catalan countryside. Children at a very young age become very aware of their heritage, their uniqueness and the endless debating about

Catalonia. It is hard to find two friends from the most nationalistic regions of Catalonia that agree wholesale on the questions I’ve posed in the questionnaire. However, what is important is that they are determining their own futures in their own way.

Is the Protection of Catalan Essential to the Survival of "lo catalán"?

83%

Stongly Agree Agre e Disagree Strongly Disagree

3% 1% 13%

FIGURE 17

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Chapter 4

GALICIA: LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Galicia has some stark contrasts to the cultural and linguistic attitudes I discovered in Catalonia. Many of these differences are likely rooted in the psycho- sociological makeup of these two divergent societies. It is not the purpose of this paper to delve into derivation of these complex collective psychologies, but it is worthwhile to point out some of the superficial and observable differences of personality between

Galician and Catalan people. Obviously, they share much common history as autonomous communities within the same nation-state. They also suffered brutal repression—including being denied linguistic rights—under the Franco dictatorship.

However, one could hardly surmise a common past when looking at their divergent economic, social and cultural histories. I imagine that I was not alone in wondering why so many Galicians do not seem to care about Catalan politics—especially Catalan efforts to increase their autonomy from Spain—which are ostensibly similar to their own. It is surprising to find that there is a large number of Galicians that do not see as common ground Catalonia’s struggle against the hegemonic Castilian center in Madrid. Galicians

I spoke with tended to relate more to the Basque situation as a common cause of poorer, rural Spain and tended to see the Catalan cause as perhaps too “bourgeois.” This attitude toward Catalonia certainly has an explanation that is likely rooted in Iberian history.

However, it remains a quandary to me since Catalonia was—prior to exhaustive propaganda efforts by Franco to alienate it—the champion of the working class struggle and the bastion of fascist resistance; a cause many Galicians continue to struggle against even today.

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Through firsthand observations and through many of the interviews I conducted, I did not find the nationalistic sentiment to be as high in Galicia as it is in Catalonia and

Basque Country. In fact, I observed a sort of codependent self-image that Galicians feel towards the Spanish state. The majority of respondents claim to not support Basque separation. I have also found interesting responses to Plan Galicia (an executive plan to catch Galicia up to the rest of Spain’s infrastructure and to make amends for the tragic oil spill off the North coast of Galicia). For instance, one respondent claimed that Plan

Galicia was implemented because “it only takes two hours to reach Seville from Madrid, two hours to reach Barcelona (by train) from Madrid, and even less to reach the principal cities of Basque country, yet it takes eight hours to reach A Coruña by train from

Madrid.” Plan Galicia was due in part to the major devastation Galicia experienced from the oil spill off its invaluable coastline in 2002, destroying essential fishing industries and livelihoods.

Many of the Galicians I interviewed characterized Catalans as far more nationalistic than themselves. This is often said with the qualification that “younger people in Galicia” are getting more and more nationalistic and are speaking more and more Galician than they did in their youth. However, not unlike Catalan, the Galician language—in the context of minority language maintenance—is engaged in an intense struggle for autonomy and long-term survival. As observed through my research and firsthand observations, rigorous effort is being exerted from the hearth of the home to the highest levels of Galician government to see to it that the language is maintained. The debate surrounding the best path for maintaining Galician is divergent and lively. Instead of signaling an obstacle, the differences of opinion demonstrate an important strength for

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language maintenance: the language is worth saving! Unique to Galicia, when comparing it to Catalonia’s path, is the difference in status. Where Catalonia has remained a source of envy and jealousy for its wealth, industry and autonomy, Galicia has forever remained the place even the Romans considered too barbaric, rugged and isolated to be worth conquering. In a modern context, Galicia has been the region of

Spain of least interest and investment. This reality played out in a serious political conflict that ushered from power in Galicia the conservative political party (Partido

Popular) that had been headed by Manuel Fraga (a former minister and ambassador for

Franco). The Galicia movement known as Nunca Mais began in 2002, when an oil tanker, The Prestige, spilled millions of gallons of oil along the Galician coast. The reaction was immediate and massive. Galicians were sick of empty promises of infrastructural investment to improve their rail system, highway system, and most importantly, to build a modern port near to where the oil spill happened. The negative consequences for Partido Popular were not only restricted to Galicia, as the lack of response to the Galicia crisis as well as the corruption surrounding the Madrid bombings ensured a paradigm shift in Spanish politics. What is important to understand is that the poor treatment of Galicia throughout its history has had to do with their historically low status in Spain. It seems now as though Galicians are having a much more influential say in national politics as well as their own future. However, the traditionally long glance down the Spanish nose at Galicians explains a great deal about their historical mistreatment and low social status.

As Joshua Fishman points out, the social status of a speaker is vital in determining the potential for a language’s maintenance:

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The more numerous and the more important the native speakers of a

particular variety are the greater its vitality and the greater its potential for

standardization, autonomy, and historicity. Conversely, the fewer the

number and the lower the status of the native speaker of a variety, the

more it is reacted to as if it were somehow a defective or contaminated

instrument, unworthy of serious efforts or functions, and lacking in proper

parentage or uniqueness (1971: 27).

In the case of Galicia, this lower status helps us to understand why there has been such a

lack of serious investment in language maintenance efforts. One of the first things that

jumped out at me was the dearth of Galician periodicals in comparison to Catalonia.

While in Galicia, I did not hear of a single newspaper in Galicia that was not translated

first from Castilian! I only found one Galician television channel whose programming was a mix of Castilian and Galician. The only strong representation of Galicia within the realm of media was the radio, which had many all-Galician radio broadcasts. As seen in

Figure 18 below, Galician respondents were decidedly different from Catalan respondents in their attitude about the amount their language was used in different public spaces. Galicians generally believed their language was not used enough. As we can recall from Figure 12, on page 47, Catalans tended to believe their language was used enough in all of the categories except commerce which was split between “yes” and “no.”

In terms of language attitude, Galicians are clamoring for an increased use of their language and Catalans are generally pleased with the amount their language is used in daily life.

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Is Galician Used Enough in the Following Places?

100%

80%

60% No 40%

20% Yes

0% Media At work At Church High In Sports University Junior and Commerce Elementary

FIGURE 18

So how much is Galician used and where is it used? Figure 19 provides data from a census taken in 1993 and demonstrates how many of the nearly 3 million Galicians actually use Galician on a daily basis.

Figure 20 answers the question of frequency of use in various daily life settings.

It is interesting to note that the places where the respondents claimed to use less Galician are nearly the same areas they claimed the language was not used enough. It is reasonable then to assume that there is a correlation and that this attitude is not coincidental. For instance, respondents claimed that Galician was not used enough in church and in commerce. Congruently, they claimed to not use Galician with much frequency in the same areas. These two questions were not asked back-to-back on the questionnaire. In fact, they were separated by two pages.

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Daily Use of Galician vs. Castilian

Use Galician Use mainly Use mainly Use Spanish only Galician Spanish only

FIGURE 19

Source:

Frequency of Galician Use

Shopping Family functions With friends Writing, email Legal proceedings Popular songs Patriotic Hymns Religious ceremonies Popular sayings, refrains At parties At school At work In the house

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Always Almost Always Sometimes Never

FIGURE 20

An area of concern when I studied in Santiago de Compostela from 1996-97, was

the amount of Spanish being spoken by professors in class. This sentiment is reflected in the attitudes of the respondents when only 32% of respondents said Galician was used enough in the university. Of course, unable to speak Galician myself, I was grateful of this

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fact, but there were definite grumblings among the Galician students. According to La Voz de Galicia, in the universities Gallego (Galician) is used rarely:

64% of the teachers in the Ourense campus give their classes in Spanish

(Castilian). In primary education (6 to 12 years), 69% of students learn

Castilian as their first written language, 19% learn Castilian and Galician and

only 12 learn Galician. All Galician students are able to understand, speak,

read and write Spanish (they become active bilinguals), but the situation

changes in the case of Galician. School helps to develop writing and reading

skills, but does not contribute to the normal use of the language as a result of

the insufficient normalization efforts in Galicia. The only bilingual children

are those who have Galician as their mother tongue and who have been

educated initially in Galician or in Galician and Spanish in equal measure.

Children who have Spanish as their mother tongue have more difficulty

becoming bilingual, because only 20-25 per cent of their education is carried

out in Galician. Thus, school transforms Galician speakers into active

bilinguals and Spanish speakers into passive bilinguals. The total population

of the Autonomous Community of Galicia is 2,740,000. Almost 68 per cent

of the population speaks Galician on a daily basis, although 86.4 percent

claims to be able to speak it, and 97.1 percent understands it (10/21/03,

2089323>)

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Linguistic census data have been collected in Galicia, and from 1993 to 1998 there were marked improvements in the number of Galicians that could read and write their language (Figure 21). The large leaps in the number of Galicians that have learned to read and write attest to legitimate efforts being made in the education system. It is an impressive feat of language maintenance when one considers that as recently as 1993 only

27% of the Galician population could write the language and in just 5 years that percentage jumped to nearly 53%.

Figures on Galician Language Skills

MSG (1993) CIS (1998) Difference Understand 97.1 % 98.4 % + 1.80 % Can speak 86.4 % 89.2 % + 2.80 % Speak 67.9 % (*) -- Can read 45.9 % 68.4 % + 22.50 % Can write 27.1 % 52.9 % + 25.80 %

FIGURE 21

MSG=Mapa Sociolingüístico CIS = Centro de Investigacíon Sociológica (*) In the Census it is only asked whether a person is able to speak and there is no reference to the actual use of the language. Source:

When considering Figure 22 below, it is worth mentioning that there are no regions in which Galician language skills are notably deficient. This is true even in the more developed and industrialized regions of A Coruña and Pontevedra, where there are likely larger populations of in-migrants from Madrid and Barcelona.

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Figures on Galician Language Skills by Region

Population Can understand Can speak Can read Can write

A Coruña 241,808 86.00% 69.02% 51.2% 33.42%

Ferrol 88,101 87.88% 70.55% 48.36% 29.87%

Santiago 104,045 78.37% 71.86% 52.28% 37.48%

Lugo 77,728 83.91% 76.43% 49.79% 38.46%

Ourense 102,455 89.68% 78.52% 47.79% 33.62%

Pontevedra 70,238 87.44% 78.62% 46.19% 29.46%

Vigo 263,988 89.55% 73.94% 49.10% 31.30%

FIGURE 22

Source: < http://www.galego.org/english/today/general/census.html>

Progress in the recovery of Galician has been made in each of the four skills areas. Today, more Galicians are able to understand, speak, read and write their heritage language. There has also been progress in the area of giving more prestige to the

Galician language. Through the increased prevalence of Galician in public life—though not to the extent of Catalonia—Galician is increasingly the language of choice.

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Concomitantly on the rise with the official usage of Galician in schools, media, and public life is the rising social self esteem of Galician. Improved social status for Galician seems to be stemming any traditional tendency to use Spanish in Galician daily life.

However much more needs to be done to increase the number of speakers and genuine opportunities to use the language.

In the area of media, Galicians are demanding Gallego more than ever. As demonstrated in Figure 23, Galicians still do not get their media information at the level of Catalans, but as recalled from Figure 18, most Galicians do not think enough media is available in Galician. It is reasonable to assume that with an increase in demand so to will increase advertising dollars invested in Galician media. During my research time in

Galicia, I found one entirely Galician newspaper, Galicia Hoxe, and it is a translation of a

Castilian publication: El Correo Gallego.

Also during the time I was there (December 2004-January 2005), I found only one all

Galician TV channel. The programming consists almost entirely of dubbed programs.

There were, however, numerous Galician radio channels.

The internet is being used increasingly as a means for worldwide communication.

Galician’s importance on a global level is reflected in the amount of media that is

available to Internet users in that language. As bilinguals, Galicians are apt to get their

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information via the Internet from Spanish websites, since Spanish is bound to be a much

more commonly used internet language than Galician. However, English is the most

widely used international language for global commerce and undoubtedly for the internet.

So how will Galicians respond to this increasingly used medium for information? Will

Galicians begin to see more and more Internet available in their own language?

A few respondents from both Galicia and Catalonia explained that one of the

languages they frequently use for their media is English. Professor Anthony Beltramo of

the University of Montana, posited a quandary that may prove to be more troubling to

minority languages struggling regionally with their dominant national languages such as

is the case in Spain: i.e. while Catalan and Galician struggle for autonomy against the

Spanish language, will English sneak up on all the languages of Spain and become more

dominant?

Language Choice for Media

Radio 11% 36% 53%

Internet 4% 63% 33%

Te le vision 4% 32% 64%

Newspapers and 38% 53% magazines 9%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Galician Castilian Both

FIGURE 23

When asked about specific mediums of information and entertainment, 32% of the respondents believed the quantity of sports programming available in Galician to be increasing, while 59% believed it to be constant. At the same time, only 9% believed

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sports programming in Galician to be decreasing. Galician students complained of too few movies being made by Galicians for Galicians, but the most common complaint was that even fewer are dubbed into Galician. Figure 24 further explicates Galicians’ attitudes about the availability of their language through four different forms of entertainment and information.

Is the quanity of music, movies, commercials and sports available in Galician increasing, remaining constant or decreasing?

100%

59% 100% 32% 9% 100% Music 40% 47% 13% 100% Movies 45% 38% 17% 59% Commercials 32% 9% Sports Constant Increasing Decreasing

FIGURE 24

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Linguistic Map of Galicia

MAP 2

Source: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:MapaLinguisticoGalego.png>

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Where is the Purest Form of Galician Spoken?

Along the Coast 8%

Purest form doesn't 32% exist

In Major Cities 13%

Rural Areas 9%

In the South 12%

In the Interior 26%

FIGURE 25

When asked where the purest form of Galician is spoken (Figure 24), the respondents showed very little agreement, and named places throughout the region where they believed the best Galician is spoken. Interestingly, the respondents did consistently provide similar categories of places such as “en la costa,” or “en el sur,” or “en el interior.” These responses were made without any cue from the questionnaire. In some cases, a respondent would reply “ambitos rurales” and another respondent would say “en el campo.” I took these descriptions to be synonymous and combined them. The most ambiguous, was that the purest form of Galician is spoken “in the south.” With 12% of the respondents making this claim, it is hard to know if they were referring to Ourense as a region, or Vigo, or the entire southern part of Galicia which shares a border with

Portugal. With only 32% of the respondents claiming that a “purest form” doesn’t exist, that means that nearly 70% of Galicians still believe one does exist. However, the disparity in responses suggests Galicians are far from agreeing upon a place where this

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form exists. Figure 9, on page 33, reminds us that 39% of Catalans believed the purest

form of their language was spoken in the region of Girona. Catalans tended to be much

more consistent and agreed upon specific regions where they believed the purest form

existed. They did not offer random and ambiguous geographical descriptions such as

“rural areas” or “along the coast.” Instead, Catalan respondents—without exception—

understood the question to mean “what provincial region…?”: i.e. Lleida, Tarragona, etc.

Galicians named a wide variety of places that I had to combine into more general

categories in order to present the evidence.

Student respondents from the University of Santiago de Compostela revealed that the debate over the type of Galician that should be adopted and standardized is contentious. They explained that most people genuinely appreciate that Galician is extremely diverse throughout the autonomous region. In fact, they described a near inability to understand people from different parts of the region. In some cases, coastal

Galicians claimed to have difficultly understanding entire sentences from rural and interior Galicians. Conversely, two university students from Ourense claimed to have difficulty understanding Galicians from the North Coast of Galicia. Therefore, a standard

or “pure” form of Galician exists only on a virtual substrate that is locked away in a

fierce regional debate.

Another stark contrast from Catalonia is the opinion that Galicians have about

their own linguistic capabilities (Figure 25). While there is a clear majority of Galicians

that believe they are more adept at learning Castilian or Portuguese than a Castilian is to

learn Galician or Portuguese, they do not exhibit the high level of linguistic self-

confidence that the Catalan people do. Perhaps Galicians appreciate the close

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relationship that their language has with Portuguese, so they do not give themselves any

advantage over Portuguese people who they believe are able to learn Galician as easily as

they are able to learn Portuguese. At the same time, they seem unable to appreciate that

modern Galician has been heavily influenced by Castilian Spanish, which makes Galician

a language that bridges between the Portuguese and Spanish languages, which should

give them some linguistic advantage. Whether or not there is any truth to the notion that

one language is easier to learn as a second language depending on the native language

with which one begins, the point is that language communities (such as Catalonia and

Galicia) tend to hold strong opinions about their linguistic capacities. In both of the cases

I investigated, the native speakers of minority languages in Spain believed that

EASIEST SECOND LANGUAGE TO LEARN: Native Galician-speaking Respondents

2% 17%

2% 2% Galician to learn Portuguese Galician to learn Castilian Portuguese to learn Galician Portuguese to learn Castilian Castilian to learn Portuguese 26% 51% Castilian to learn Galician

FIGURE 26 they had a distinct advantage over speakers of the dominant language for learning the other’s language. Quite simply, Galician and Catalan are not taught in Castilian Spain as

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a part of public school curriculum; and a native Castilian speaker is not exposed on a daily basis to the other language as is the case in Catalonia and Galicia.

Unique to Galicia was the attitude held by 25% of native Castilian-speaking respondents that it was easiest for a Castilian to learn Galician (Figure 26). There was nowhere near this level of confidence expressed by the native Castilian-speaking respondents of Catalonia. A comment made by a native Castilian speaker may help explain the reason for this difference in attitude: “Gallego is a dialect of Spanish.”

EASIEST SECOND LANGUAGE TO LEARN: Native Castilian-speaking Respondents

8%

25%

Galician to learn Portuguese 33% Galician to learn Castilian Portuguese to learn Galician Portuguese to learn Castilian 1% 1% Castilian to learn Portuguese Castilian to learn Galician

32%

FIGURE 27

It is important to note the relationship Galician has with Portuguese. Regardless of the position one takes about which language was derived from which, the languages are related. Differences in the languages became evident in the 13th century. In the 15th century, “when the increasingly impermeable political frontier went up between Galicia

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and Portugal, Galicia lost contact with its sister tongue, Portuguese” (Turell, 115).

Galicia and Portugal were split politically in “the year 1096 when King Alfonso VI of

Castile gave the Portuguese County to one of his daughters, Tereixa, and Galicia to his other daughter, Urraca, thereby effectively splitting up the territory which had until that time always been under the same reign” (Turell, 115). Thus began the history of two

cultures, two languages, etc.: one Portuguese, one Galician. From this background, it is easy to understand the contemporary issue being debated in Galicia that the language today should opt for an orthography, lexicon and grammar that more closely resembles

Portuguese.

Galicians seem to be very aware of their language’s history. In particular, they appear to appreciate the relationship their language shares with Castilian and Portuguese

(Figures 27 and 28). I posed a similar question to Catalan speakers, but as the reader will recall no figures were presented to answer this question. The reason for this is not an omission, but a simple reality that not a single Catalan respondent believed Catalan to be the same language as Castilian or French (Catalan’s closest relatives). Considering

Fishman’s criteria for language autonomy, Catalan speakers are overwhelmingly confident that their language is autonomous. They also demonstrate a firm understanding of their language’s derivation and historical development. I am not sure the same could be said about the Galician people, who tend to be less educated and less aware of the linguistic autonomy and historicity of their language.

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In reality, are Galician and Castilian the same language?

11% Yes

89% No

FIGURE 28

In reality, are Galician and Portuguese the same language?

30% 70% Yes No

FIGURE 29

In Galicia the standardization debate is fervent. One camp wants Galician to move in a direction that more closely resembles Castilian Spanish, while another group believes Galician should move in a direction towards Portuguese. According to a

Galician History professor, José Miguel Andrade Cernadas—whom I interviewed while

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visiting the campus of the University of Santiago de Compostela—many of those

advocating for a more Lusitanized version are the intellectual elite. Professor Andrade

also claimed that “for the most part there has been no serious attempt on the part of the

Spanish and Galician institutions to reverse language assimilation and loss.” For example, Galicia’s only TV station has chosen to use the more Castilian style. A quick surf through the internet results in a wide array of written versions of Galician.

Politically speaking, Galician government and press have been dominated by the conservative Popular Party for a long time. This helps explain the trend of supporting the

Castilianized form of Galician that they are promoting. Of the newspapers that are available in Galicia, there are none that represent the liberal voices of the Galician people. This is quite the opposite of Catalonia where the majority of liberal opinion existent in Spain thrives. I do not mean to imply that the Castilianized version is somehow inherently conservative and that the Lusitanized version is somehow liberal, but rather that the politically and economically influential Galicians have tended to promote the more Castilianized version. The Galician papers (El Correo Gallego, and

Gallego Hoxe) are the same paper published side by side in Castilian and Galician.

Gallego Hoxe, the Galician translation, is the Castilianized version of Galician.

According to a Galician concierge I interviewed, both papers represent the opinions of the Popular Party. These papers are tied to the conservative national paper El Mundo,

another paper that is impartially biased towards the Popular Party. Furthermore, the

Castilianized version is the only one being promoted by most newspapers and more

importantly, by the Xunta Galicia (the autonomous government of Galicia). The Xunta is dominated by the Popular Party even though it is supposed to be independent of political

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parties. The Bloque Gallego is a political body that promotes Galician Nationalism. It spans an entire political spectrum of parties. This diversity of political opinions makes an agreement for the best form of Galician unlikely. It seems as though the Castilianized version has the majority of the momentum and the serious institutional investment.

The exact same percentage of Galicians as Catalans believes their minority language to be as important as the dominant language of Spanish (Figure 27). Galicians are aware of the growing importance of Galicia to Spain economically, as well as the cultural dynamism offers to the tourism industry. Galicia highlights an amazingly clean environment, with a lush green geography suitable for all kinds of agriculture and ecotourism. Galicia’s eternal disadvantage of an inaccessible and barbaric geography has become its greatest asset. Galician seafood is the country’s most prized. Galician gastronomy is cherished throughout Europe. Since the death of Franco, Galicia has revived a cultural renaissance that began in the 19th century but that was interrupted by the Franco dictatorship. (Ironically, Franco was Galician yet thought it was important to repress the Galician language and culture). The cultural revival has been highlighted by an impressive list of literary contributors. Ramón del Valle-Inclán, Camilo José Cela

(Nobel Prize for Literature 1989), Rosalía de Castro, and Alfonso Daniel Rodríguez

Castelao are but a few of Galicia’s important writers. A majority of Galicians see their language’s history as important as Castilian (Figure 28).

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Is Galician as Important as Castilian?

23%

Yes No

77%

FIGURE 30

Does Galician Have as Important a History as Castilian?

25%

Yes No

75%

FIGURE 31

One native-Castilian respondent living in Galicia expressed a concern regarding official language status. He found the situation of Galician as the only official language of Galicia as worse than a return to the linguistic reality prior to 1978 which had Spanish as the only official language in Spain. His concern was that he will suffer separation and maltreatment due to his inability to speak Galician if it is made the official language of 85

Galicia. He felt that since the people here already speak Castilian that he need not learn

Galician. My survey indeed found people in both Catalonia and Galicia that agreed that the practicality of Castilian as the lingua franca must be protected for pragmatic reasons without hurting local languages and cultures. Even people with strong nationalistic responses found the need to maintain Castilian for business and other reasons.

Currently, Galician has a “co-official” status with Spanish in Galicia.

Respondents to the question of which official language situation they find most acceptable to least acceptable demonstrates very little continuity of opinion. The only exception is that overwhelmingly, Galicians agree that a return to the situation of 1978 is least acceptable (Figure 29). Interestingly, 54% of respondents expressed that Galician as a “co-official” language throughout Spain to be either “acceptable” or “most acceptable.”

At the same time, 68% of respondents found the current situation to be “acceptable” or

“most acceptable.” In descending order from “most acceptable” to “least acceptable”

Galicians believe the best scenario to be the one they currently have with Galician as co- official with Spanish. Second, Galicians believe that their language should have a co- official status alongside Spanish throughout the country. Third, they believe that

Galician should be the sole official language of Galicia. Finally, is the belief that Spanish should be the only official language of Spain.

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Attitudes About "Official Language"

27% Galician as only 19% official language of Galicia 41% 13%

31% Galician coofficial 23% in all of Spain 31% 15% 1-Most acceptable Galician coofficial 40% in Galicia w/ 28% 2-Acceptable Castilian 24% 3-Less Acceptable 8% 4-Least Acceptable 4% Castilian only official language 13% (1978) 12% 71%

FIGURE 32

Ninety-eight percent of respondents believe it is important to “support Galician art.” Less certain among Galician respondents is which institution should be responsible for supporting that art. Evenly distributed between the government, schools, universities and foundations is what Galicians feel should be a shared burden to support Galician art, music and literature. In other words, the maintenance of Galician culture—including its language—is the responsibility of all sectors of its society.

As for monolinguals in Galicia, I again found that the possibility of finding a monolingual elusive as I did not personally encounter one. In Chapter 3, I explained that

Catalan respondents claimed that they knew of no monolingual Catalans except the young who had as of yet to be exposed to Castilian. On the other hand, Galicians claimed that there are quite possibly many monolinguals in Galician, but that these 87

people would have to be elderly and extremely isolated geographically or socially. That

means that monolinguals, if they exist in Galicia, probably had little or no access to an

education. Professor Andrade from the University of Santiago de Compostela related to

me that although his own grandmother can understand Spanish, he said that she never

uses it and he believes that she very likely cannot speak it. This same professor described

to me regions of Galicia, which I was unable to visit, that have villages where

monolinguals may exist. For the purposes of this study the issue of monolinguals is not

essential except that it may add a valuable component to the description of the linguistic

reality in the regions of Catalonia and Galicia.

Has Galician Changed in Recent Years?

80% 70% 60% 50% 40% Yes No 30% 20% 10% 0% Pronunciation Vocabulary Norms of use Grammar

FIGURE 33

Galicians sense change in their language (Figure 30), but mostly in the area of vocabulary. In an increasingly globalized world, the influx of in-migrants and the efforts to standardize Galician, it is easy to imagine that a Galician speaker would notice changes in vocabulary. At the same time, the ability to notice changes in pronunciation would be extremely difficult. Several respondents described notable differences in the

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norms of use, explaining that Galicians are using the language more commonly in public affairs when such use was less frequent only a few years ago.

Galicians are steadfast and united in their belief that the protection of their language is important for the survival of “lo Gallego” (Galicianness) (Figure 31). As observed in the data I collected the language attitudes of Galicians consistently express a desire to protect their language, use their language and continue to increase opportunities for using it.

Is the protection of the Galician language essential to the survival of "lo gallego "?

4% 0%

Strongly Agree Agr e e

31% Disagree 65% Strongly disagree

FIGURE 34

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Chapter 5

WHAT NOW?

It is surprising how little the many Americans with whom I have had contact in

my lifetime know about Spain. Most would think of Spain and say “¡Olé!.” Others

might be slightly more informed and discuss the beauty of flamenco dance and the grand

spectacle of bullfighting. Perhaps a few would know about Spain’s great artists Picasso,

Velazquez, Dalí, and Goya. Even fewer would be able to name Spanish cities beyond

Madrid, Barcelona and Seville. Almost without exception, people would have no idea of

the complexity of Spanish society that includes its numerous regions of Celtic ethnicity

(blond-haired/blue-eyed); its myriad music and dance traditions which in no way

resemble flamenco; its dynamic gastronomy; and its vast array of languages and dialects:

Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Basque, Aranese, Astur-Leonese, Fala, Valencian, Gascon,

Ladino, Occitan, Aragonese, Extremeduran, Barallete, Bron, Caló, Cheli, Fala dos

arxinas, Gacería, Germanía, Inglés de escalerilla, and Mingaña.

“It is frequently forgotten (or entirely unrecognized) that Spain constitutes

the most populous economically developed multilingual country in the

world and the oldest multilingual state in the world, predating even the

Swiss confederation in that respect” (Fishman, 1991, 295).

Surely, these many languages are of little importance to the majority of the world so far away from Spain. Even when a society far away from Spain is engaged in a parallel struggle to protect its minority language, that society would have little reason to imagine there existed minority language communities in Spain. The overly-simplistic

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image that Spain once broadcast around the world as an empire—one language, one religion—must surely affect its global reception. However, communities throughout the world—especially those that were conquered by the Spanish empire—may be interested to know that within Spain’s small country there are raging centuries-old struggles for autonomy and independence that are not unlike the ones the former colonies fought against the Spanish empire. Catalonia and Galicia are two such examples. Both communities are taking unique steps to gain more autonomy—be that linguistic, political, economic, or cultural.

The November 7, 2006 edition of the International Herald Tribune explained how

Catalonia’s left-leaning parties are establishing a coalition in order to take over the majority power in the Catalan government (http://www.iht.com/articles/2006

/11/07/news/spain.php). One of the principal concerns of the coalition members is greater autonomy from Spain. In particular, the parties are demanding more return from their tax revenues, and greater control over their immigration policy and education.

Chief among the concerns of education is control over the teaching of their language.

Catalans are in support of a political movement that grants them more autonomy, and they see the promotion of their language as essential to achieving this goal. Linguistic autonomy goes beyond symbolic autonomy. To Catalans, it is the essence of political and cultural sovereignty.

What is important to bear in mind about the recent political developments in

Catalonia is that up until this moment, government authorities—especially conservative elements such as the Convergencia I Unió party—have pushed for “normalization” with the Spanish state. This entails “normalizing” language use to embrace the Spanish

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language with the belief that a more efficient economy will result if Catalans would give

up their frivolous desire to speak their own language. Perhaps with the new coalition

demanding further autonomy (linguistically, politically and economically) for the first

time in many centuries, Catalonia is staged to emerge from under the Spanish shadow.

Not unlike the Catalan newspapers news, language politics are front and center in

Galicia as well. One need only peruse the daily headlines of Galician newspapers to find the ubiquitous issue of language promotion talked about. For example, at the very

moment that I am writing this sentence, I am able to turn to the internet and read the following headline from La Voz de Galicia, one of Galicia’s major newspapers: “El 44%

de los alumnos de secundaria siguen el paro a favor del gallego”

().

This article describes a student-led strike that is currently in effect in Galicia: “El paro

fue convocado por la asociación «Mocidade pola normalización lingüística», organismo

que reclama medidas concretas para incrementar la enseñanza en lengua gallega en los

centros educativos de Galicia.” The number of participants in this strike is significant:

El paro registrado hoy en los centros escolares de enseñanza secundaria

de Galicia en petición de que se incrementen las lecciones en lengua

gallega ha sido seguido por un 43,9% de los alumnos de ese ciclo, han

informado hoy fuentes de la Xunta. Según datos de la Consellería de

Educación, esa cifra corresponde a un seguimiento por parte de 63.031

alumnos, del total de 150.343 alumnos de enseñanza secundaria de

Galicia.

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Miquel Strubell, a Catalan linguist, believes that the “causes of most of the problems facing Catalan are non-linguistic, so the remedies are also non-linguistic”

(Wright, 4). Catalonia, like Galicia, is subject to the same global capitalist society as the rest of the world. The futures of the minority languages discussed in this study are inextricably linked to the economic and political realities in which they exist. Strubell aptly describes how “a political dictatorship has been replaced by an economic

dictatorship (that of the free market)” in Spain, and he correctly points out that “any

demographically weak language needs a firm pro-active policy in order to survive and

thrive” (Wright, 4). Modern globalization is the absolute prime determining factor in the

shaping of future civilization. However, the way in which we define “globalization” establishes the direction we will take when trying to solve modern social issues. Whether we describe globalization in the pure economic sense which means the global capitalist

system which presupposes its superstructural effects, or if we think of “globalization” as

the effects of capitalism, one thing is certain about globalization: it has drastically

accelerated social change. In the case of languages, linguists have predicted that in the

next 100 years, all but 1000 of the world’s current 6000 languages will survive.

As has been demonstrated throughout this inquiry, the Galician and Catalan people appreciate the precious value of their language. Bradley and Bradley reminded us of four essential reasons why languages should be protected, ranging from their own

linguistic self-interests to the ethical, scientific and symbolic reasons. Catalans and

Galicians alike are adamant about the protection of their languages to the point of

significant financial investments as evidenced in the growing mass media available in

these minority languages. Politically they are willing to participate in strikes, elections

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and lobbying to see to it that the government responds to their demands. The student-led

strike is an impressive testament to their drive and their willingness to take risks in order to ensure their linguistic rights.

An important supposition can therefore be made about minority language maintenance: when minority language groups seek to live out what they see as their linguistic destiny of using their heritage languages despite pressure from a dominant language and those groups have significant economic, political, social and cultural power as do the Catalan and Galician people, it seems highly likely that they will succeed in maintaining their language. As evidenced in this study, the people of Catalonia and

Galicia demonstrate through their language attitudes that they believe in the cause of maintaining their languages, and they have combined this momentum with sound language policies that seek to establish the institutional protection and promotion of those languages.

94

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“El 44% de los alumnos de secundaria siguen el paro a favor del gallego,” La Voz de

Galicia. 7 November, 2006, A Coruña, España

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Languages. John Benjamins Publishing Co., Amsterdam: 1992.

Fishman, Joshua. Advance in Language Planning. Mouton, The Hague: 1974.

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English Mother Tongues by American Ethnic and Religious Groups. Mouton &

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---. Reversing Language Shift. Multilingual Matters Ltd., Clevedon: 1991.

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Foer, Franklin. How Soccer Explains the World. Harper, New York: 2004.

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“General Comment No. 23: The rights of minorities (Art. 27).” August 1994. United

Nations Human Rights Commission.

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Haugen, Einar. Bilingualism in the Americas: A Bibliography and Research Guide.

American Dialect Society, Alabama: 1956.

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d_minori.htm

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&ALLINFO=TRUE&PARENT=1&CTX=B

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Working Papers. 3 (1994):106-113.

McClean, Renwick, “Coalition in Catalonia,” International Herald Tribune. 7 November

2006. http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/07/news/spain.php

“Measurement Techniques – What is a Language Attitude?” Literature and Culture of

the Indian Subcontinent. University of Turku, Finland

http://www.thecore.nus.edu.sg/post/ ndia/hohenthal/6.1.htm

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O’Reilly, Camille C. Language, Ethnicity and the State. Palgrave Publishers, New

York: 2001.

Paulston, Christina Bratt. Linguistic Minorities in Multilingual Settings. John Benjamins

Publishing Co., Amsterdam: 1994.

Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove and Robert Phillipson. Linguistic Human Rights: Overcoming

Linguistic Discrimination. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin: 1995.

Turell, M. Teresa. Multilingualism in Spain. Multilingual Matters Ltd., Clevedon: 2001.

Weinreich, Uriel. Languages in Contact: Findings and Problems. Mouton, The Hague:

1974.

Wright, Sue. Language, Democracy and Devolution in Catalonia. Multilingual Matters

Ltd., Clevedon: 1999.

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Agheyisi, Rebecca and Joshua Fishman. Anthropological Linguistics. Archives of

Languages of the World, Indiana: 1970.

Bastardas, Albert and Emili Boix. ¿Un estado una lengua?: la organización política de

la diversidad lingüística. Octaedro, Barcelona: 1994.

Branchadell, Albert. “Language policy in Catalonia: making liberalism 2 come true.”

Language & Communication. 19 (1999): 289-303.

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APPENDIX A

CATALAN-RESPONDENT IDENTITY DESCRIPTION

I asked each respondent to complete the questionnaire by responding to the following question: “¿Cómo se encuentra usted en el mundo respeto a su identidad: catalán primero, español primero, ciudadano del mundo, europeo…cómo?” (“What do you consider identity in respect to the world: Catalan first, Spanish first, citizen of the world, Europe, etc.?”). I felt it was important to get a sense of how the respondents regarded nationality as a factor in determining their identity. I wanted to know if they felt it was important to be identified as Catalan, Spanish, or something beyond these limiting terms. It has been hard to determine if there exists a level of resignation or pragmatism within the Catalan interviewees to the reality that they are generally recognized outside Spain as Spanish. The reason for this difficulty is that the respondents sometimes said they recognized that they were “in reality” Spanish, but that they felt

Catalan or something else. I have arranged the quotes by age groups.

(16-30)

“Soy una persona castellano-parlante. Pero, igualmente, me gusta la lengua catalana, pero no por ser algo estrictamente catalán. Ni me siento española, ni catalana, no creo en las nacionalidades, ni el sentimiento patriótico. Así que me considera ciudadana del mundo.”

“Para mí el catalán es una lengua más que se debería aprender al meno la gente que vive en Catalunya. Es muy importante que no se pierda esta lengua ya que cada vez somos menos los que la hablamos y no se debería de perder. Aprender lenguas te culturiza como persona.”

“Me siento Catalana por nacimiento y española por raíces.”

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“Un país (aunque no tengo estado) debe escribir su historia y sus tradiciones en su propia lengua. El catalán debe continuar como elemento de cohesión entre los habitantes de Catalunya y no como instrumento político que nos lleva a la discordia y los discusiones baratas.”

“Española y después de española: catalana.”

“Me siento catalán y ciudadano del mundo, pero legalmente soy español, eso dice mi DNI.”

“Yo soy hijo de familia catalana pero siempre me he sentido primero español y luego catalán, porque soy realista y hasta otras épocas mi país de origen es España.”

(31-45)

“Me siento español, en un país con muchísimo variedad, cultural gastronómico, paisajístico, tradicional. Hay muchas diferencias en él dado el clima diferente en la península. Las lenguas influyen en las diferencias, una tarea de todos es acostumbrarnos a pensar que lo verdaderamente importante es la comunicación.”

“Me siento sumamente argentino.”

“Catalán, Europeo, Español.” (In that order)

“Em sento catalá oprimit pel regne de espanta.”

“Me siento catalán, aunque mi DNI dice que tengo nacionalidad española. Me sentiría a gusto con una Cataluña independiente, pero cada vez más veo que es una utopía. Tenemos una cultura rica, pero el país es pequeño y la fuerza de España hace que sobrevivamos como se pueda. Me contento que mis nietos puedan hablar el catalán con la frecuencia con que yo lo hago. Con tanta globalización se va eliminando lo local, lo que nos diferencia y enriquece, y no le veo un gran futuro a las culturas que detrás no tienen la fuerza de un estado independiente.”

“1º catalana, 2º española.”

“Observación: En general en Catalunya, deseo recibir la información en catalán (algunos la rechazan si está solo en castellano), por lo que este cuestionario debería ser bilingüe o no todo el mundo estará dispuesto a entenderlo, y por tanto perderá usted una buena parte de las opiniones (justo las más extremistas). El resultado del estudio no sería pues representativo del total de la población. Respecto a la defensa del catalán como lengua oficial, sí se está potenciando el uso y defendiendo la identidad de la lengua. Pero a muy largo plazo no se podrá luchar contra las grandes masas migratorias a los que el gobierno también amplia su derechos.

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Un punto básico sería que los niños extranjeros aprendiesen el catalán en las escuelas, (¡puesto que están en nuestro país!).”

“Tanto español como catalán pero más catalán.”

(46-95)

One 95-year-old Catalan that I interviewed expressed some surprising views, least of which was his casualness regarding the potential survival of the Catalan language. In fact, he said he didn’t think that survival of the language had in bearing on the survival of one’s “Catalanness.” He also thought Catalan is less important historically and contemporarily than Spanish.

“Me siento catalana porque es la lengua que hablo, pero en realidad soy ciudadano del mundo.”

“Me siento catalán primero, segundo español.”

Yo por mis raíces y por mi lugar de nacimiento y por la fuerza de mi cultura y la forma de vivir en mi pequeño país me siento catalán, pero creo muy importante todas las cosas que suceden en el mundo, guerras, catástrofes naturales o provocadas por el hambre y digamos que en este sentido me siento solamente ciudadano del mundo.”

“Me siento catalán, y segundo soy ciudadano de Europa.”

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APPENDIX B

GALICIAN-RESPONDENT IDENTITY DESCRIPTION

This appendix is similar to Appendix A. At the end of the questionnaire, I asked

the Galicians respondents to answer the question of what they considered themselves to be, Galician, Spanish, European, citizen of the world, etc. These respondents are identified by their native tongue instead of their age as in Appendix A and the Catalan

respondents.

(Native English) “Soy inglesa, residente en Galicia. Me siento parte del mundo no tengo realmente adoración por ningún país. Me siento muy a gusto aquí en Galicia, soy Gallego-Inglesa. Marysa”

(Native castellano) “Me siento español aunque no niego que soy gallego pero solo es UNA REGIÓN DE ESPAÑA!!!”

(Native castellano) “Soy gallega y ante todo Galicia. Antes que el resto de España.”

(Native castellano)“Yo primeramente me siento gallega. Pero también español. Aún así no dejo de sentirme Europea. Por lo tanto no creo que sea tan importante de donde seamos, aunque eso influya en nosotros.”

(Native castellano) “1-gallega, 2-española, 3-europea”

(Native castellano) “Yo soy y me siento gallega, en seguido lugar española.”

(Native castellano) “Me siento Española y después gallega.”

(Native castellano) “Me siento primero Española pero sin descuidar el gallego. (Sitio donde yo he nacido).”

(Native castellano) “Me siento primero español y después gallego.”

(Native castellano) “Soy castellano parlante, con sentimiento español, no obstante estoy de acuerdo en que todas las autonomías o regiones no pierdan su identidad, sus valores,

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costumbres, idiomas, su forma de vivir es lo que diferencia a unas personas de otras y su manera de vivir.”

(Native castellano) “Eu sintome persoa ante todo, cidadana do mundo, irmá de tódolos pobos. Logo, Asturias e España son as miñas patrias por igual; de tódolos eeitos, Galicia para mís é a miñe patria adoptiva e erántame, quérolle ben.”

(Native gallego) “Para mi es primero el Gallego y después el castellano.”

(Native gallego) “Yo me encuentro primero gallega después asturiana y por último española.”

(Native gallego) “Yo, ante todo, me siento gallego, con mi lengua y mis costumbres. A su vez, me siento también orgulloso de ser español. Lo que opino es que los gallegos deberíamos usar más nuestra lengua y sentirnos muy orgullosos de tener una lengua propia.”

(Native gallego) “Primero Gallego, después Español.”

(Native gallego) “Yo soy gallega y los otros idiomas no me interesan.”

(Native gallego) “Me siento español. Pienso que el Gallego es importante, pero igual que en otros lugares (Cataluña, P. Vasco, etc.) No hay que ser extremata con el idioma. Podemos convivir todos y cada uno a parte puede tener su lengua sin crear conflictos.”

(Native gallego) “Me siento gallega, pero con tanta igualdad que española.”

(Native gallego) “Primero ciudadano del mundo, luego gallego y español.”

(Native gallego) “Yo primero soy español pero también soy gallego.”

(Native gallego) “Me siento gallega ante todo, pero también española. Aunque aun hoy en día, el gallego está un poco discriminado en ciertos aspectos…”

(Native gallego) “Me siento primero gallego y luego español.”

(Native gallego) “Yo personalmente me siento y encuentro muy representada con Galicia, es mi lengua, mi origen. En segundo lugar decir que aparte también me siento española.”

(Native gallego) “Sintome galego, español só xurídicamente.”

(Native gallego) “Me siento Gallego por Esencia!”

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(Native gallego) “Éu sou galego preimeiro pero respeto as ideas de todo ó mundo, menos as fascistas. Pero considerome “chilindrin” polo alcume os do meu pobo.”

(Native gallego) “Yo soy gallego y español me es indiferente.”

(Native gallego) “En principio, considero que soy antes gallega que española. De hecho, creo que España es un país plural: no tienen mucho que ver los habitantes de una zona con los de otra.”

(Native gallego) “Me siento gallega porque nací aquí pero no dejo de sentirme española. Así que me siento gallega y española al mismo tiempo.”

(Native gallego) “A mí me gusta decir a la gente que soy gallega, y me gusta encontrarme con gallegos fuera de Galicia, pero no desprecio las otras nacionalidades porque también soy española, europea.”

(Native gallego) “Yo pienso que el gallego es la mejor lengua.”

(Native gallego) “Éu sintome galega, non me sinto española. Gaiza é a miña patria, e non teño máis que unha.”

(Native gallego) “Yo me siento ambas cosas, para mi son equiparab les y no me siento más una que otra.”

(Native gallego) “Yo primero me encuentro Gallega y lo demás no me importa.”

(Native gallego) “Yo primero soy gallega y luego española y por último por su puesto europea.”

(Native gallego) “Aunque no tengo un sentimiento de nacionalidad muy definido podría decir que me siento europeo y a nivel estatal, gallego, pues es la cultura que me rodea y que conozco. No me siento español (aunque acepto esa nacionalidad sin problemas de una forma “administrativa” o política) porque considero que España es la unión de varios pueblos y culturas. Si bien no hay una cultura común o propiamente española con la que poder identificarse.”

(Native gallego) “Yo soy del mundo.”

(Native gallego) “Soy gallego primero y luego ciudadano del mundo.”

(Native gallego) “Dependiendo del contexto, si hablamos a nivel mundial, me identifico como europeo, a nivel nacional como gallego. Conclusión: Europeo-Español-Gallego (y muy orgulloso de serlo!!).”

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(Native gallego) “Soy y me siento gallega. Así me presento y me expreso con los que me rodean. Me siento totalmente representada e identificada con esta cultura. No reniego de ser española, pero sí aclaro que esa cultura no me representa para nada!”

(Native gallego) “Considero que ante todo soy ciudadano del mundo, siendo este en realidad una entera nación para mí, en el cual no debería haber fronteras. Pero al mismo tiempo considero que el gallego es muy importante para mí pues es un rasgo característico propio del lugar en el que nací, en el que me he criado y en el que vivo y por eso creo que es muy importante el uso del gallego.”

(Native gallego) “Ante todo me siento Gallego aunque también soy Español dentro de la Comunidad Europea.”

(Native gallego) “Yo gallega ante todo.”

(Native gallego) “Sintome galego e quizais me axudaria a sentirme un pouco mais español unha republica federal donde caiban as demais nacionalidades da península aparte da española.”

(Native gallego) “Yo, antes de castellana o española me considero gallega aunque tengo que admitir que no lo hablo mucho.”

(Native gallego) “Yo soy gallego y española a la vez.”

(Native gallego) “Castellano-Gallego.”

(Native gallego) “Gallego-español-europeo”

(Native gallego) “Yo me cuentro que soy gallego y también Española.”

(Native gallego) “Me siento gallega y española por igual.”

(Native gallego) “Me considero gallega ante todo, aunque no reniega para nada de España. Aunque los que hablan castellano no tienden a ridiculizar a los gallegos y todos somos iguales, aunque nuestro medio de comunicación no sea el mismo.”

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